Episode 72
“Perloche! Wake up!”
“…….”
“Perloche!”
I’ve been shaking Perloce for a while, but it doesn’t seem to wake up.
Thanks to this, I was sweating for a while, and suddenly I heard the heavy breathing of the children lying next to her, and muttered with a worried expression on my face.
“Hmm… Should we move the kids first?”
“You stay still! I’ll move it myself!”
Then Irina, who was next to me, quickly sat me down against the wall and started lifting the unconscious children.
“…Perloche, please answer me. What on earth does this mean?”
After looking at that for a moment, I turned my gaze back to Perloce and asked a question in a low voice.
However, what came back was not Perloche’s cheerful voice, but only the sound of regular breathing.
“It’s strange… From the outside, it looks like he’s just asleep…”
I checked with the hero’s power to see if I was running low on vitality, but that wasn’t the case as expected. So why on earth is Perloche sleeping so soundly?
‘Anyway, there’s something about Perloce. That’s for sure.’
Unable to make any further judgment due to lack of accurate medical knowledge, I turned my thoughts to the message she left.
Looking at the word ‘Remember’ written in abundance on the last page of the diary, it is clear that she intentionally left the message that she was ‘half drunk’.
So, how on earth was Perloce able to leave such a message?
‘It’s strange, I don’t know if she was in the past, but she is now… she’s an idiot, right?’
For a moment, I assumed that all her actions were acting, but many aspects were too natural for that to be the case, so I quickly shook my head.
‘I’ve been acting for a long time, so there’s no way I can’t recognize other people’s acting. So, there must be another reason.’
As I was thinking about this, a situation similar to the current one suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Now that I think about it… Perloche mentioned the devil at the orphanage.’
I think it’s clear at this point.
Perloce definitely knows something about the ‘demon god’.
And that fact is revealed implicitly.
Since there isn’t much information yet, I can only infer this much, but it still makes me feel good that I have a clue to the secrets of this world.
“…Tsk tsk.”
After looking through Perloche’s diary for a while, I realized that there was nothing more to keep in mind and got up.
“Frey? Are you telling me to sit down?”
Then Irina, who had already taken several children outside and was coming back into the basement, began to stop me.
“You’re hurt a lot too, Irina.”
I gave her a short answer and left the basement holding Perloche in my arms.
“…Ugh.”
As I slowly walked out of the mansion, radiating star mana, I heard a faint groan coming from my feet.
“What, aren’t you dead?”
I looked down to see if there were any students I hadn’t rescued yet, but I saw the leader of the assassination group lying on the floor, groaning.
“Who are you…?”
As I was looking down at him blankly, the guy asked a question in a strained voice.
“Tell me whose dogma it is.”
“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to!”
When I stepped on the guy’s finger and asked him a question in return, the guy started making a voice that made my blood boil.
“…He committed suicide.”
Then the guy suddenly started vomiting blood and soon fell limp. Looking at it, it looks like he chewed on the dogma he was hiding in his mouth.
“You fools.”
Currently, the assassins under the Moonlight family carry out their missions with no sense of justice or mission, but only worship ‘orders’.
Therefore, when they go on a mission, they become crueler than anyone else.
‘I don’t know what the sub plan was… but if it had been implemented, it would have been a big problem.’
Those who know the identity of the Moonlight family, which has been assassinating for a thousand years, are limited to a few noble families of the Marquis, the three ducal families, and the imperial family.
Of course, there is a reason why they have ensured information control… but the biggest reason is probably because they have their own rule of not leaving behind a single ‘witness’ who witnessed the assassination.
Although the Moonlight family is such a fearsome and heartless family, surprisingly, they were a fairly righteous group until recently.
Over the years, they have developed their skills to kill only those who are corrupt or pose a threat to the empire, and to minimize unnecessary killings.
Therefore, their rule of ‘witness annihilation’ has not been brought to light for a long time.
This is because they used their overwhelming ability to eliminate their targets before witnesses came forward, and even if they were caught, they used their discretion to deceive or use information warfare.
However, with the fall of the imperial family, everything changed.
This is because the support of the imperial family, which had concealed information and cleaned up on behalf of the Moonlight family, was cut off, and there were limits to information warfare based solely on their discretion.
Nevertheless, the Moonlight family was walking a lonely path, but the current ‘secret head’ took power of the family and implemented the ‘witness annihilation rule’ in full, and eventually they started to run away.
All the people who originally called for the ideals and justice that the Moonlight family had were purged, and all the assassins who worked with justice and a sense of duty were also eliminated.
In the end, the current Moonlight family was reduced to nothing more than the private army of the ‘secret head’, and all the assassins left were either greedy and bloodthirsty to become executives, or just psychopaths who were loyal to ‘orders’.
And the biggest problem is that this crazy group will soon act for the self-interest and lust for power of the ‘secret head’.
At least at this point, there is a ‘senior council’ that has at least an excuse, so they have decided to target corrupt people… people like me, for example.
However, a few years later, the head of a secret family that took control of even the council of elders would use the family’s assassins at will to seize power.
‘But that also ends today.’
Serena’s hand-picked associates and assassins… and the few remaining conscientious people are currently taking refuge with her.
So, if today’s operation against the Demon King’s army is successful…
“Hey, it’s over there!”
“Mr. Perloche!!”
As I walked out the front door, thinking about the Moonlight family, the children started running towards me.
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“…yikes.”
Fearing that my identity would be discovered, I quickly placed Perloce on the ground and began to quickly walk through the smoke.
“Hey… who is that person?”
“That black outfit, isn’t that what the people who attacked us were wearing?”
Then, I suddenly heard whispering, so I focused my star mana on my ears and listened to the conversation, and there were some pretty interesting stories going on.
“No, that person is the one who saved us. That person saved us from hiding at the table earlier.”
“That’s right… We were also being chased by two gunmen, but that person blocked them and sent us to the exit.”
“You’re covered in blood… It wasn’t like that before. Are you okay?”
I paused for a moment and listened to their conversation. Luckily, I realized that no one had figured out who I was, and with a sigh of relief, I started walking inside.
“Huh…huh…”
“…Irina, are you okay?”
“Ah, it’s still okay… to this extent…”
Eventually, I found Irina walking with two children supporting her, and I smiled and asked her a question.
“Aren’t you lacking in exercise?”
“Oh, no… this much… it’s not difficult at all…”
“…You, come outside. I will take care of this place.”
I was bursting out laughing while looking at Irina, who was answering while sweating profusely, when someone spoke to me from behind.
“It’s dangerous here, so you should stay outside…”
“I can use protection magic, so there’s no problem. I’m stronger than him.”
I turned around in surprise and tried to get Arianne, who was standing there with a stiff expression, out again, but she was stubborn.
“It looks like you’re seriously injured, and you need to get treatment. Get out now.”
“No need. A wound like this…”
As Arianne said, the wounds are serious, but it is possible to carry the children one by one. so…
– Jing!
“Get treatment. Then you die.”
Arianne, who was blocking my path with a protective shield, spoke with a worried expression on her face, so in the end I had no choice but to nod my head and leave the mansion.
“Hey, who are you?”
“Are you okay with your injury?”
As I left the mansion and sat down in the yard, students began to gather around me one by one.
“Thank you for helping us.”
“”thank you””
As I looked at them and remained silent, the students began to bow to me and say thank you.
‘…I don’t deserve a thank you.’
But no matter how much I think about it, I don’t deserve to be thanked by them. In the end, wasn’t I the one who got them caught up in this incident?
“Cluck! Cough!!”
Thinking that, I slowly got up from my seat and began to stagger away.
“Now, just a moment!”
Some students shouted behind me, but I didn’t stop walking.
“Huh…”
After walking and walking for a while, I arrived at the playground where I lay down with Serena and looked at the sky. I sat down on the swing and started sighing.
“…This will definitely be the second ordeal, right?”
While I was muttering that and looking up at the night sky where the stars and moon were shining, I suddenly felt someone coming from behind me.
“Fray.”
“It’s a surprise!”
Thanks to that, I got up from the swing with a cold face and smiled when I saw Irina standing behind me with a stern expression.
“Why did you come here again?”
“That… I mean…”
Irina hesitated for a moment while looking at me, then carefully sat down next to me and said.
“…The princess and the professor have arrived.”
“okay?”
“Yes, the princess is looking at the children in contemplation… and the professor is looking at the mansion with a stern expression.”
“Well, the imperial guard will be arriving soon.”
After saying that, I sighed and started riding the swing.
“Stay still. It’s dangerous to move now.”
“…ah.”
Then Irina quickly grabbed the swing and spoke in a worried voice.
I wondered why he was so worried, but seeing that the swing was covered in blood, I definitely didn’t think I should overdo it.
“…Frey, when do you think the second trial will come?”
While I was thinking that, Irina asked me a question in a trembling voice.
“Hmm… I guess it will be after this case is completely concluded.”
“I see.”
As I answered her with a calm expression, Irina’s eyes began to tremble.
“Well, this ordeal isn’t really that big of a deal…”
“…How is that not a big deal?”
I spoke with a relaxed expression to reassure her, who had been excessively worried about the ordeal for a long time, but Irina cut me off and raised her voice.
“You end up going through a situation you never wanted to go through, right? But that’s not a big deal, is it?”
Irina’s hands were shaking as she said that.
“It just shows the turning point. It didn’t actually happen, so there’s no problem.”
When I held her hand and spoke softly, Irina, who had been lowering her head, slowly raised her head.
“Frey, I have a favor to ask you.”
“What?”
“Let me share your ordeal.”
As she said that, Irina held my hand tightly.
“It’s my fault that you went through the ordeal in the first place. So…”
“What are you talking about, Irina? It’s not your fault.”
“…Fray.”
Eventually, Irina opened her mouth in annoyance, but when I firmly interrupted her, tears eventually began to fall from her eyes.
“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry…”
“Well, why are you doing this…”
Even though she has dark magic in her body, Irina has considerable difficulty performing magic due to her mana exhaustion.
Nonetheless, she did her best to protect her students today.
The reason things ended up like this was because the assassination squad went on a rampage and committed a crazy act of attacking the mansion, and it wasn’t her fault.
However, she seems to be taking too much responsibility this time.
Is it because I told her this morning to take good care of the kids?
Or is it just because he is so kind-hearted?
I don’t know, but I think I need to comfort her first.
“Irina, you really…”
“Frey, I have a confession to make.”
While I was gently rolling her down on her back with that thought in mind, Irina, who had been crying with her face buried in my chest, suddenly stopped crying and muttered softly.
“confession?”
“…Yes, a confession that must be made to you.”
Irina raised her head as she said that and began to speak with a face filled with tears and guilt.
“Honestly, I was too afraid to tell you. That’s why… I haven’t been able to tell you until now.”
“…okay?”
“Yes. If you hear my confession, you will probably hate me so much.”
After hearing her words, I was perplexed as to why Irina had done something wrong to me to say such a thing, and began to persuade Irina.
“Uh… Irina? Whatever you did to me, it was probably justifiable. I probably deserved to die back then. So there’s no need to feel guilty.”
“But… But Frey…”
However, despite my words, Irina, who was chewing her lips, spoke with a pale expression on her face.
“…I’m the one who put the 12 o’clock curse on you?”
After saying that, Irina slowly walked away from me and began to glance at me with eyes full of fear.
“Fuha!”
“P-frey?”
She was so cute that I burst out laughing without realizing it. Then, Irina, who was watching me, started making a puzzled expression on her face.
“I already knew that. Did you really think I didn’t know?”
“W-what do you mean…!?”
Irina, who soon heard what I continued, asked back in a trembling voice with a pale, tired face.
“You wrote it to me at the new student welcome party. That.”
“Ahhh…”
When I jokingly said this to her with a slight frown, Irina started shaking.
“P-frey… I… that…”
“So, is that all you have to confess?”
“…uh?”
Eventually, as she stuttered to say something, I stopped talking with a nonchalant expression, and she started to make a blank expression.
“The only thing that happened to me on this day was an attempt at murder. All I did was throw a curse.”
“But! That curse…!”
“Of course, it’s a curse with a 100% fatality rate. But I successfully blocked the curse, and thanks to that, I’m alive now… yay!”
As I was pounding my chest while saying that, I accidentally touched the wound and let out a short scream.
“You… knew about that curse too…”
“Good, anyway… I’m alive and well, and you suffered mana exhaustion from the reaction, right? So, let’s end it as a draw.”
“Frey, but…..”
“Okay, stop talking about it. Don’t feel unnecessary guilt about me anymore. I did something again.”
As I continued to comfort Irina, I noticed a familiar creature flying from afar in the sky, so I decisively ended the conversation and stretched out my hand.
“Kuuuu!”
Then, the white owl that landed naturally in my hand tilted its head and began glaring at Irina who was next to me.
“Ah, ouch! Ouch!”
“Let’s see… what kind of letter did I receive this time…”
After looking at the white owl that started hunting Irina for a moment, I quietly turned my attention to the letter he had placed in front of me.
– Please reply that you are alive. please.
“…I guess you were very worried.”
It seems like she’s really worried about me, seeing as it’s uncharacteristically Serena-like and has a lot of scrawl written on it, and it’s not even put in an envelope.
“…Hey, give me a pen.”
“Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!”
“I told you to stop bothering the kid and give him a pen.”
After looking at the letter with a smile for a moment, I grabbed the owl that was pecking at Irina and removed the pen from its leg.
– Safe. Got out safely.
Eventually, I wrote a reply on the back of the letter Serena sent me, and after thinking about it for a while, I added a short message.
– love you.
After writing that and smiling for a moment, I handed the letter out to the owl that was sitting on my head and staring intently at the letter.
“Kuuuu!”
Then, as if he had read the contents, the guy patted my head with his wings with a satisfied expression on his face. Then, he bit the letter and started flying far into the sky.
[The system’s second ordeal has begun!]
“…this.”
And at that moment, a system window appeared in front of my eyes.
I guess the trigger that ended this case was the letter I just wrote.
“Frey? What’s wrong?”
“…It seems like the second ordeal has come.”
“…!”
Irina, hearing what I said, begins to look frightened. I patted her shoulder and spoke softly.
“It’s okay, I’ve been saying it all along… but it’s not reality anyway. It’s just a momentary experience of what could have been, a possibility that we have already succeeded in preventing.”
“Fray! Me too with you…!”
Irina must have heard me, but she shouted urgently and stretched out her hand to me…
“…It has begun.”
Soon she withdrew her hand again, gaped, then closed her mouth.
-Shoooooo…
And, from that point on, everything started going backwards.
An owl that flew far into the sky turns around and flies back, sits on my head, and attacks Irina.
Soon, Irina, who had been grinning, stood up and walked backwards.
And, before I knew it, I also got up from my seat and started walking backwards towards the mansion in the distance.
As I continued to step backwards, coughing, staggering, and having the strange experience of the blood that had fallen on the ground sticking to my body again, I was back in the yard of the mansion before I knew it.
“It’s getting faster?”
And from that moment on, everything started spinning.
I thought I could see the students bending towards me and then bending over again, and before I knew it, they had entered the underground warehouse.
As I was looking at the fallen Perloche, the leader of the assassination group I killed earlier suddenly blocked me.
As I continued to go back and forth to the past, I realized that the scene that had been rewinding had stopped.
– Therefore, this operation is withdrawn. And now, the sub plan begins.
“Ha, was this the turning point?”
Eventually, as the radio signal that had obviously cut off earlier continued to flow, I hardened my expression and began to look around.
– From now on, we will start a fire in the mansion.
Then, when I heard a call from the radio again, I frowned and started clicking my tongue.
‘As expected, I did well to kill them all.’
The time has come to see the bad ending of this world.
fantasy,
