“How was today’s lesson?”
In the imperial palace garden, amid a landscape where winter had settled, Yuli asked cautiously. Sophieen shot her a sidelong glance and replied.
“It was not so bad.”
The emperor had put off knightly instruction until now. In her own words, it had been because of closed-door training, but no one knew what sort of training it had been.
“I am relieved.”
Yuli swallowed a sigh of relief. Sophieen looked at her from the corner of her eye and said,
“By the way, your chess skills were unexpected.”
During a break in the middle of training, Yuli had played chess with Sophieen. Yuli’s chess skills were, in their own way, at an amateur level, but she was no match for Sophieen.
“I had expected a little, since you are that fellow’s fiancée.”
“······Do you mean Professor Deculein?”
At the unexpected name, Yuli’s eyes went round. Sophieen snorted.
“Is your fiancé some other fellow?”
“No. That is correct.”
“Learn a little from him. What use is keeping him at your side otherwise?”
“······.”
Yuli did not know the extent of his chess skills. To think they were enough to be acknowledged even by His Majesty.
Only now did it occur to her anew that she truly knew so little about him.
“Also, Our younger brother wants your fiancé’s signature.”
The emperor held out a certain book to Yuli. It was a book written by Deculein.
“Do you mean Grand Prince Creto?”
“Yes. Get it signed here. For once, I shall act like an elder sister.”
[ Understanding Elemental Magic ]
It was a theoretical magic text written by Deculein. A book notorious for its dreadful difficulty and vicious price.
Yuli, too, had spent her own money to buy it in order to learn about him, but she had not been able to make it past ten pages.
“Yes.”
“He said it is only needlessly complicated and difficult. That brother of mine added that he was only saying it in passing, but do not leave that part out when you tell him.”
“······Yes.”
A knight’s words were never long. Sophieen seemed rather displeased by that, wrinkling the bridge of her nose and waving her hand.
“You may go.”
“Yes.”
“From next time, speak at greater length. A tutor knight does teach Us, but is also to become Our friend and conversation partner.”
“······Friend, did you say?”
Yuli’s eyes widened. The emperor chuckled and nodded, and Yuli took deep breaths to hide the swell of emotion within her.
Hoo-ha— hoo-ha— hoo-ha—
“That is enough. Now go back, friend.”
“······Yes. It was an honor.”
The emperor returned to the palace with Knight Keiron. Yuli stood with her head bowed toward the backs of the two.
“This way, please.”
After that, she was guided by a maid.
She walked along a passage prepared separately in the garden. Yet the maid soon vanished somewhere, and a eunuch took her place.
“Greetings, Sir Yuli. I am Jolang.”
“······What is the matter?”
Yuli looked at him with rather suspicious eyes. Jolang smiled brightly and said,
“May I borrow a little of your time? For the stability of the imperial palace, there is something I must ask of you. The other knights are waiting as well.”
It was dubious, but she soon followed behind him.
“It is here.”
In the eastern part of the vast and complicated imperial palace, in an annex at one corner, Raphel, Sirio, and Gwen were together.
They greeted Yuli with ambiguous expressions.
“······Yuli, you’re here?”
Gwen waved. Yuli answered with a nod and stood by their side.
Sirio smiled brightly.
“Now that we’re all gathered, Mr. Jolang? What is this about?”
“Yes.”
Jolang opened his mouth, still smiling. His tone was soft and gentle.
“There is a mission I would like to request of you all.”
“A mission?”
“Yes. There is a monster lurking beneath the imperial palace. We would like to entrust that monster, which those within the imperial family find burdensome, to all of you.”
“Is it an imperial command?”
Raphel’s heavy voice asked in return.
“It is not an imperial command, but it is our loyalty. If this matter is resolved, we will be able to report it with praise for you knights. Of course, sufficient compensation will follow as well.”
“······.”
The knights pondered in silence for a moment.
Before long, Gwen spoke. She pointed at Yuli.
“If Yuli’s involved, then that person has to be here too.”
“That person being?”
“Deculein.”
At that name, Jolang looked slightly uncomfortable. Gwen smirked.
Even a eunuch who had supposedly experienced all manner of hardships in the imperial palace feared the name Deculein.
Well, his political power was still famous, and his authority was rising by the day.
Even if he was the emperor’s eunuch, it was only natural that he would feel burdened.
“It seems like a dangerous job, so at the very least, her fiancé should give permission, shouldn’t he?”
Gwen pointed at Yuli. Yuli hurriedly shook her head.
“Ah, no. It’s fine—”
“That is right. His practical ability is beyond doubt.”
Raphel cut off Yuli’s words and stepped in. Sirio also expressed his agreement with a silent smile.
“······Hmm.”
Jolang seemed displeased, but soon smiled and nodded.
“Yes, understood. I will speak to Lord Yukline as well.”
That answer left Gwen dumbfounded.
He had no problem calling them by their names, but Deculein was “Lord Yukline.” Was this why family background was everything······?
“Do as you like. Yuli? Let’s have dinner together today.”
Gwen answered bluntly and left the imperial palace with Yuli.
* * *
「We are still following your orders.」
I planned to make contact with them.
However, I would never reveal impatience or panic. In my facial expression, my words, or my behavior, I could not show anything that might be seized upon.
Of course, for me, duplicity was easier than breathing. It had already seeped into this personality and this body.
“······Master. Here it is.”
While I was considering countermeasures, Roy came in with a file of documents. I read through its contents.
[ Luxury Hotel Renovation: Black Krain ]
[ Future Trade Routes and Plans ]
[ Overview of the Mercenary Corps’ Missions ]
They were results submitted by the businesses I had invested in. I used 「Comprehension」 to read their ledgers.
They were settling in without any problems.
“That is enough. Take them away.”
“Yes.”
It was good news, but I had no leisure to pay attention to it. After sending Roy away, I considered how to reply to them.
······There was no need to think.
—Master.
A figure flickered in the shadowed corner of the study. It was not real, but a magical illusion. I looked at him calmly.
The words I spoke were almost instinctive.
“Guide me.”
*
······There is no utopia in the world where people live.
Even in the capital of the strongest empire on the continent, light and darkness clearly coexist.
Just as the brighter the light, the darker the shadow, Oklan in the southeastern part of the capital was a slum where the entire district had declined after the mines were abandoned.
Deculein’s former confidant guided me underground into that slum. It was a damp, clammy cave. Sticky moisture wrapped around my body, and pale lights dangled as if they would break.
“We greet you, Master.”
In that cave, two people knelt. One was a man, and one was a woman. Their faces bore many similar features. They seemed to be siblings.
“Repeat it. What was my order?”
Before they could say anything, I asked as though testing them.
“You ordered that Luina was not to be forgiven if she set foot in the capital.”
I looked at the two of them.
There were no death variables on these two, and their ability to have kidnapped Luina with only the two of them could be called quite outstanding.
However, what was it that these two wanted? That was the problem.
I continued speaking as though indifferent.
“You were hasty.”
“We know.”
There was an insolent note in the man’s voice as he answered.
“We thought you had abandoned us. Even now, we are suspicious.”
“Is that defiance?”
“No. If you abandoned us and are no longer our master, then it is not defiance.”
“I have never abandoned you. Guide me.”
I spoke calmly. The two straightened their knees and rose. The man walked first, I followed behind him, and the woman stayed at my back.
Soon we arrived at an empty cavern.
In the middle of an underground space far too wide for the number of people present, Luina was bound. Something like a black sack had been placed over her face, and her hands and feet were restrained in cuffs. She looked almost like a prisoner of war.
“What measures did you take?”
“We injected Antimatoxin.”
Antimatoxin was a notorious poison for mages even in the game. Its components were closer to a “tranquilizer,” but if injected through the blood vessels, one could not manifest magic for at least three days.
I examined their faces.
“You have done well.”
At that one sentence, the atmosphere subtly changed. They seemed to be trying to hide their expressions, but they could not deceive my eyes.
They were dissatisfied.
Thanks to that, I understood one thing.
They did not want something like my praise.
“······.”
I glared at Luina, who was in a terrible state. A red current was flickering distinctly beside her.
A death variable.
Luina was determined to kill me.
The real problem began now.
I pondered in my head. I tried to think of the most “plausible development” possible.
───I speak.
Luina, I saved you. The one who kidnapped you has nothing to do with me.
Luina answers, “I don’t believe you!”
The death variable is not resolved.
───I leave the place as is, and release Luina without revealing my identity.
Even then, Luina will suspect me, and those siblings will still suspect me as well. The death variable will also not be resolved.
───I kill Luina.
Kyaaaaaa—! Luina’s scream fills the cavern. After that, she disappears forever, and the death variable is resolved, but I will have allowed the “suspicious siblings” to hold an eternal weakness over me.
More than anything, the positive quests that would unfold from Luina in the future would be buried.
From Deculein’s position, she was an enemy, but when considering the entire world setting, she was clearly a named character on the side of good.
It would be an extreme loss.
“······.”
With psychokinesis, I raised the stone floor of the cave’s surface. Thus I hastily fashioned a chair. Influenced by my personality, it was beautiful like an antique.
I sat on the chair and slowly, thoroughly, considered every possibility.
The situation could not be called good even as empty words, but the initiative still belonged to me. This order itself had ultimately been “Deculein’s.”
“Here it is.”
The man handed me a certain ledger. I silently accepted it.
······As I read through its contents carefully, a hollow laugh rose to my lips.
Deculein was vicious. Truly, astonishingly wicked.
Beyond vicious—could there be another man in the world this tenacious?
“Interesting.”
As I read those absurd sentences in their entirety, I had no choice but to admit it.
This death variable could not be resolved through peaceful methods.
Therefore······.
* * *
Luina was drifting through unconsciousness. A dizziness as though she were swimming naked through the open sea. Nausea surged up without warning.
She could no longer perceive the passage of time.
She endured only by burning with anger. She already knew whose doing this kidnapping was. If she did not, she would be an idiot.
Deculein.
It was the moment Luina bit her tongue and repeated that name.
Charrrk—!
The sack covering her face was removed, and pain flared in her eyes. Her mouth and ears, which had been completely blocked, opened all at once.
“Huaaagh······!”
Luina exhaled and bent forward. Panting like that, she saw shoes fixed to the dark floor.
“······.”
She slowly lifted her gaze.
Clean shoes without the slightest stain or speck of dust. The cuffs of trousers, custom-made and neatly folded. Legs crossed while maintaining their distinct sharp lines. A luxurious necktie that did not suit the damp air in the slightest. And······ his face.
At that moment, her heart sank.
Someone was looking at her. Cold shadows lay over his sharp features, and his murky pupils were eerie like those of a bird of prey.
“······You.”
Luina’s voice trembled. Dread, fear, anxiety······ emotions she did not want to admit gnawed at her weakened mind.
It felt as though a heavy pressure was crushing her entire body.
“Never set foot in the capital again······.”
Deculein spoke. His tone had neither inflection nor rise and fall.
“I believe I told you that. What did you hope to gain by coming to the capital?”
Ruina was silent. Dekyulrein looked at her as if mocking her.
“I heard you bought a mansion in the capital.”
“······Do you think you’ll be safe after this? I am the Emperor’s tu—”
“Needless words.”
Dekyulrein extended his palm. And folded his fingers one by one. Five, four, three, two······.
“······The Magic Tome.”
Ruina spoke. There was no change in Dekyulrein’s expression.
“I’ve demanded its return several times before as well. The borrowed sum was surely repaid with interest, yet you pretended not to hear.”
Dekyulrein listened to those words silently. His indifferent face settled into a calm stillness.
Like an emotionless monster.
“That’s right. However.”
Dekyulrein used telekinesis to bring forth a document.
“Ruina, in this world, there is something called ‘compound interest.’ The amount lent fifteen years ago was one hundred million Elne. The annual interest rate was twenty percent.”
A contract written fifteen years ago, still exerting its influence to this day. He looked upon its contents and twisted his lips.
“Thus, a total of one billion five hundred forty million seven hundred two thousand one hundred sixty Elne.”
“What?”
If calculated with simple interest, it would be four hundred million, but with compound interest, it was an astronomical sum of one and a half billion.
Of course, it was a poison clause.
Simple interest had been clearly stated in the contract, but the McQueen debt had been switched to compound interest by a ‘special clause’ that Yukrain had hidden like a trap.
“Your family still owes one billion one hundred forty million seven hundred twenty-two thousand sixty Elne······ Ah, yes. Two hundred million in interest is added every year.”
“······.”
Ruina’s face was one of utter disbelief, beyond mere absurdity. And she spat out,
“I will appeal to the Imperial Court. Such nonsensical—”
“Imperial law permits appeals for up to ten years after a contract is signed. Yet you did not do so. Furthermore, as this is an incident from the ‘Former Emperor’s’ era, the ‘Current Imperial Court’ cannot officially review it.”
Dekyulrein genuinely admired the previous Dekyulrein’s schemes. Apart from such a debt, numerous traps were ticking away like time bombs within House McQueen.
“Asset seizure could begin as early as tomorrow.”
Ruina glared at Dekyulrein. He remained expressionless. That utter lack of emotion was terrifying enough to make one’s flesh crawl.
“You······ No, you really······.”
He hadn’t let her go. He had not granted her forgiveness.
Rather, he had been waiting for the moment to shoot her down.
So that she would despair until death, falling from the highest place in the most wretched manner possible.
“Continue speaking. I will listen.”
At that moment, all the strength in her body drained away.
Now was not the time for pride.
“······I have no intention of becoming Chief Professor. No, it would be a lie to say I never did, but the Magic Tower’s professors are trying to elect me—”
“I do not care.”
Ruina had made excuses with some measure of desperation, but Dekyulrein shook his head.
Ruina’s heart pounded. Her mouth went dry.
“Then what on earth do you want? Do you want me to die?”
Ruina bit her lip.
However.
The words that followed immediately······.
Were strange.
“Become the Chief Professor.”
No, they were bizarre. Ruina’s eyes widened without comprehending his meaning. From her widened eyes streamed tears soaked in grievance.
“For I shall become the Chairman.”
His pupils, which had been murky until now, now held a blue phosphorescence. That deep gaze fixed directly upon her.
“If you assist me from where you stand now, when I become the Chairman, I shall consider not only returning the McQueen tome but also canceling this debt. The position of Chief Professor shall be yours as well.”
Ruina could not fathom his intentions.
“However, you must swear an oath to me.”
Dekyulrein rose from his chair. He drafted several terms with a fountain pen.
“First, you shall never speak of today’s affairs to anyone.”
“······.”
Vague phrases like ‘swear loyalty’ are not effective. The more specific the terms, the fiercer the backlash for violating the oath.
“Second, you shall abide by the terms of this contract for five years.”
Dekyulrein presented the contract he had drafted. Ruina was aghast.
It was a contract nearly akin to ‘master and servant,’ and the penalty Dekyulrein imposed was the ‘destruction of the dantian.’
“Something so absurd······”
“You still haven’t come to your senses. Our next conversation is in three days.”
“No, wai—!”
At a single glance from Dekyulrein, they covered Ruina’s eyes, mouth, and ears.
Leaving Ruina to tumble back into darkness, Dekyulrein turned away.
* * *
······Having finished my work, I silently looked around the underground cave.
“What will you do if she refuses the oath?”
The man asked. I looked at him.
“I’ll have to kill her.”
Since things have already come to this, it cannot be helped. If I do not at least threaten her, Ruina will be the one to kill me.
“······Still, she will not refuse. She is one who wishes to live.”
[ Villain’s Fate: Death Variable Elimination ]
◆ Reward Acquired: Shop Currency +2
A notification appeared belatedly.
It was neither ‘overcoming’ nor ‘avoidance,’ but ‘elimination,’ but regardless, it must mean she has resolved to swear the oath.
“Will that be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“The McQueen household played a part in assassinating the former Lord······.”
Hmm. So that had happened.
So the McQueens had not merely been victims of House Yukrain.
Since it was a fact I had been unaware of, I simply shook my head.
“It was not Ruina’s doing, was it? The current head of House McQueen is Ruina, but this much collective punishment is sufficient. That aside.”
I looked around.
A place too dark, damp, and filthy for human habitation.
“You’ve been staying in a place like this?”
“Yes.”
“You promised us money!”
Then, out of nowhere, the woman who had remained silent until now shouted. The man shot her a warning glare as if to stop her, but the woman did not back down.
“You said you would give us money and let us go when the work was finished!”
“Money.”
“Yes. Immense wealth—”
Smack!
A sharp sound rang out. The man had struck his younger sister.
“My apologies.”
I looked at the two siblings. The younger sister sniffled and hung her head, while the older brother glared at her.
“It’s fine. For now, come to my mansion. This place is too filthy.”
They possess outstanding talent. Even a wealthy magnate can recognize it.
Thus, I will not let such ability go to waste.
“From today, I shall employ you directly. Of course, I shall also grant the compensation I promised.”
At that, the younger sister’s eyes went wide.
“However, all orders I gave before today are hereby rescinded.”
“Thank you, thank you!”
The two siblings hurriedly dropped to their knees.
“Furthermore.”
Looking down at them, I added a final word.
“Do not raise your hands so often. It is unbecoming.”