Chapter 129
Chapter 129
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 129
I've dragged this out long enough.
Just when I was thinking of shaking her off...
"Why are you following me? Are you some kind of stalker?"
"I oversee the security of this city."
Ah, I see.
Impressive.
"And what do you want me to do about it?"
"You... Your true feelings just slipped right out, didn't they?"
"So what? What are you gonna do about it?"
"...I really can't stand you."
Scratch at her a little, and she reacts right away.
No matter how many times I've teased her, it's hard to believe she's the captain of the knight order responsible for a city this size. Her mentality and reactions are so fragile and dull.
At this point, I can't fathom what Viscount Ephorts was thinking, putting her in charge of the knights.
"So? I can't stand you either."
"But if you want to stay on this land, you'll have to put up with it."
"What does that mean?"
"It's the viscount's orders. Even if you're a guest, as long as there's a possibility you could disrupt the peace, he told me to keep an eye on you."
A possibility of disrupting the peace?
Just as I was wondering what the viscount had been thinking when he said that to her...
The image of Termiya and the viscount with the demons, peeking from the window, came to mind. Maybe...
'It might not have been the viscount who gave that order, but the demons.'
Unlike Termiya and the viscount, who knew little about me, the demons from outside would likely be wary of me.
And for good reason. In just the past month, I've already wrecked two of their plans. Any decent demon would negotiate with the viscount to place herseemingly the territory's top fighterby my side as a check on me.
Best to play along for now.
I don't have any real grounds to refuse, anyway.
I'm not nobility higher than the viscount, nor have I caused them direct harm yet.
When the lord of the land says so, nodding along is the smartest move.
"You're going to follow me?"
"Yes. Hate it? Me too. But this is the viscount's command, all to protect us from the northern harshness. Defiance would be..."
"Fine, I get it. Let's go together then."
"Go where?"
"Can't you tell? I need to look after the kids. Since you're tagging along, lend a hand."
In the end, she followed me into the alley teeming with vagrants to check on the children.
It was a bit away from where the students were.
Oddly, no matter how many times I'd come, not a single adult was in sight.
It was a space filled only with kids.
I was scooping out food, stuffing them until they were full, and playing a bit when...
"I don't like that! It's scary!"
"S-Scary...? This armor?"
"Waaah! It's an armor monster! Everyone run!"
"Waaaaaah!!"
Termiya appeared, her entire body encased in solid, sturdy plate armor with not a patch of skin exposed, and the kids scattered in terror.
I tried using food as bait to gather them back somehow, but they all clung to me and wouldn't budge from around me.
They clearly found her terrifying.
Well, who wouldn't? A knight in spotless, clanking armor showing up in this remote, neglected backwater. I'd steer clear too if I were them.
The students were even glaring at her from a distance.
"None of the kids will come to you."
"Th-This can't be..."
"Maybe if you took off the armor, they'd warm up a bit?"
I asked, but got no reply.
Termiya apparently didn't even consider taking off her armor lightly.
"I-I'm from the slums myself! There must be at least one kid here who recognizes me...!"
From the slums, huh.
For someone with that background, she'd lived a pretty successful life.
Was that why she served the viscount?
Maybe Termiya harbored illusions about salvation. Living in a hellhole like this, you'd desperately wish for rescue at times.
I knew that feeling well.
Because I'd been there too.
But salvation's hand is narrow and limited, so cases like hersreceiving another's gracewere exceedingly rare.
She probably credited her success and rise to Viscount Ephorts and looked up to him for it.
What an... idiot.
She was still young enough to shed her girlish ways, but even so, she was far too naive and foolish for her skills and talents.
'This will definitely come in handy.'
My inferences about her past and personality.
This was a card I could definitely use tonight.
So, very carefullylike handling a hidden daggerI steered the topic back to teasing her as usual.
"Puhahaha! Were you under the delusion that you only had yourself as a friend?!"
"Shut your mouth, you mangy fox!"
"Just a fox who speaks the truth."
"You...!! Spouting nonsense just to get the last word like a child. I won't respond to you anymore!"
Perfect.
Teasing her naturally had worked.
Now it was time to slowly grate on our knight captain's nerves and dig out deeper info.
"Really?"
"......"
"You sure?"
"......"
No reaction even after repeating myself twice.
So I switched to a tactic she couldn't ignore.
"For real? Really? Not gonna answer? Fine, no need to reply or anything. I'll just keep talking. But seriously, you're not gonna say a word? You sure? If you keep this up, I'll keep going too. Really..."
"Gaaah! I'd toss you in the sea and only your mouth would float, you bastard!! One day I'll beat you down and pickle you in salt!!!"
"Try it. If you can."
As if there were salt flats in this frozen wasteland.
It was hilarious, her yelling about salt flats in a land where you couldn't even smell the sea. Anyway.
Wow, really.
'The feedback is no joke.'
It was my hard-earned wisdom from years of living.
You don't find toys this fun to play with easily.
Termiya might not get it, but I was having a blast.
Maybe because in this dead city, she was the only one showing human reactions.
The contrast made it even more amusing.
But.
"...So how long are you going to keep this up?"
"......"
"It's getting late. Hey. Are you ignoring me?!"
"Oh, sorry. What'd you say?"
"You...! How can someone be this infuriating the more I get to know them!!"
Her angry face was perfect for teasing and pranks, but now?
'Can't wear this mask much longer.'
Replying and bantering one by one was starting to annoy me.
I was bored, irritated.
The reason I'd toyed with her like this was to forcibly build rapport and use it as a card later.
But now, with the end of my time in this world creeping closer...
Was investing emotional labor in Termiya really worth it? I'd already gotten plenty of info.
'Inefficient... but maybe I'll hang out a few more hours?'
You never know.
This fleeting investment might hand me a crucial card.
So I donned the 'Baek Seung-woo' mask again and acted to approach Termiya.
There was no hesitation in the performance.
Was it really this city that was dead?
Or was it me?
I couldn't answer that question.
"It's evening now, so let's head back to the mansion. We need to hurry if we want to make dinner."
"Can't you drop that speech pattern? You sound older than a sixty-year-old grandpa."
"I'll talk how I want! Stop picking fights over everything!"
So I teased her again.
Hmm, still fun.
The moment I teased Termiya and felt that joy welling up in my chest, I was certain.
I'd properly secured the mask. Maybe because I'd established some sense of self in some form.
No more doubts about myself surfaced.
* * *
The empty nighttime streets.
Beneath them, in the underground waterways, secret gatherings were held every night.
Most attendees were day-laborers scraping by, rebels against the society ruled by the viscount in the north.
Their group hadn't started big.
But trust in the knight order and viscount, who were supposed to maintain order, plummeted due to periodic kidnappings and disappearances over the past few years. The accumulated resentment had led to these gatherings.
Now known as the Revolutionary Corps.
Their goal was to overthrow the viscount, find the missing people, or at least hold the nobles accountable.
However.
"Oh ho, 10,281 properly aligned. Have they already awakened to a new light?"
"Of course. The 'enlightenment' is long over."
"As expected of Beauty Marquise. Changing people's values in under an hour."
The people, looking somewhat dazed, were neatly lined up like soldiers drilled for years.
Behind them, Beauty Marquise and Simon conversed, paying no heed to the so-called revolutionaries.
"They're vermin from an era where civic consciousness hasn't even sprouted properly. Easy prey."
"Think the viscount suspects?"
"That old man probably knows."
"A man with that much backbone wouldn't jump to conclusions, even about livestock."
"Yes, noted. I'll take my leave then."
With that, the man named Simon exited the waterway.
Beauty Marquise lounged still on a massive chair that resembled a throne.
At the same moment, a pair who looked like siblings slipped out through the waterway. Watching them intently, she soon closed her eyes, covered her mouth, and laughed.
"Hehe, pretending not to know is hard. But it's about time I moved myself, right?"
Beauty Marquise, her face masked as a bird of paradise, chuckled softly.
If you handed her a fan now, blended with the backdrop, she'd look every bit the noble lady.
Far more dignified and graceful than the viscount's wife.
Her bearing made it impossible to see her as the demon people despised.
Yet traces of fresh blood dripping from her mouth, like saliva after a delightful meal, utterly shattered her poise.
"The appetizers weren't bad, but raw food lacks variety, inevitably. That's precisely why the main course is all the more anticipated, hehehe."
The screams and fresh flesh of a handsome man were always so sweet.
Feeling saliva pool in her mouth, Beauty Marquise crushed a purple worm with her finger.
Soon, all the citizens of this land would meet their true end.
Just like this worm.