Chapter 29
Chapter 29
“Ah…”
When I came to my senses, I realized I was covering Ariel’s eyes.
What am I doing?
For me, it was a horrifying sight; for Ariel, it was probably just another familiar, gruesome scene.
“L-Lord Johan, I… I can’t see ahead. Before, I could at least make out a blurry shape… but… already?”
Ariel’s senses were practically paralyzed, so she assumed it was her own eyes that had gone blind rather than my hands covering them. Her flailing around was pitiful, almost drunken in its wobbliness.
“Is everyone else unharmed? And that person, maybe…?”
“They’re not hurt. Just normal exhaustion.”
By the time I had roughly patted and calmed Ariel, the one responsible for the carnage, Tillice, walked toward us.
A gentle smile on her lips, elegant movements, and a soft, measured voice.
Tillice approached in a manner befitting her title of “Saint.” Who could feel threatened or fearful in front of that?
Ariel, cradled in my arms, was far too dazed to be wary of anyone.
Startled, I barely managed to halt my backward step. Damn it, I really didn’t want to meet her. I hated the thought of even having a first encounter.
“I’m relieved you’re safe.”
Tillice let out a sigh of relief and smiled faintly.
She looked like a genuinely good person.
But seeing someone who just killed another person smile so effortlessly… there was no way to feel safe.
“Ariel, please keep your eyes closed for a while. Now that the Saint is here, it’s safe. What you need now is calm.”
“…Is that okay?”
Ariel had already reached her limit. She’d been clinging to consciousness purely because she didn’t trust me. If I hadn’t managed, she would have had no choice but to intervene.
But now, the situation was resolved.
“Then I’ll rest a little…”
Ariel finally let go of the fraying threads of her consciousness and slowly drifted into sleep. I set her down gently and turned my attention to Tillice. She seemed perceptive enough to watch quietly until Ariel fell asleep.
That brief moment of peace gave me time to think. Now, what should I do?
Tillice spoke first.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you. Would it be a burden?”
“…It’s fine. You saved lives. Ask whatever you want.”
“Then…”
Tillice smiled faintly and extended her right hand. My blood ran cold when I saw what she held.
It was Yuna, unconscious.
Judging by her state, the capture must not have been easy.
“Is this someone you know? I suspected them, so I brought them here.”
“Yes, she’s a friend of mine.”
Normally, I might have hesitated to admit knowing her. But even in my clumsiness, I couldn’t deny it. The answer came out without hesitation.
It was laughable. For someone who had ignored everything for a year, I was already this shaken over a person I’d only known a few days.
“I see?”
Tillice tilted her head slightly, then asked again.
“Do you know that this person has likely killed countless people? Their hands must be stained with a tremendous amount of blood.”
“Probably. I had an inkling. But Saint, you can discern such things?”
“Yes. It’s instinct born of experience. And my instinct tells me this person has killed at least in the triple digits.”
Now, what would I do?
The balance of her judgment, hidden beneath that gentle smile, began to shift. This was the turning point. One wrong word could send me following the fate of the barbarian just moments ago.
Not just me—other lives hung in the balance of what I said.
“How many students in the Academy have never shed a drop of blood? Yuna was just setting an example, protecting them.”
“Hmm… I see?”
I balanced her scales with the weight of principle. Tillice judged purely on one metric: whether someone was good or evil. That was her only criterion. A mercilessly black-and-white monster.
“But this person watched from afar. Even when they could have helped, they did nothing. Were you aware of that?”
“Yes, I knew.”
I tried to avoid lies. Against a monster as seasoned as her, no performance could perfectly deceive. Truth alone had to persuade.
“…She’s also my teacher.”
“A teacher?”
“Yes. She probably thought she could handle this herself and observed quietly.”
“Hmm?”
Tillice alternated her gaze between Yuna and me, still contemplating. One piece was missing. I needed to fill it. Summoning courage in the face of overwhelming fear, I took a step forward.
“Then please, release Yuna, Saint. Otherwise, I won’t let it pass.”
No weapons, insufficient skill, yet I displayed my will to fight. My threat was meaningless, but enough to show my clumsiness and courage.
Tillice, judging with absolute clarity between good and evil, would have made her decision.
“It seems I made a significant mistake. I apologize.”
She had judged me as a good person. Her balance tipped completely.
I had earned Tillice’s mark of approval, but just surviving the situation was taxing. Knowing she knew my face sent chills down my spine.
“Puhihi!”
In front of me, Ariel behind me, and Yuna in her unconscious state, I was burdened on both sides. The weight made it hard to breathe.
“Yuna, can you stop flailing and stay still? I’m exhausted.”
“Once all the conditions were right, I could’ve killed her.”
“Uh, sure.”
“Her senses weren’t exceptional, though, were they?”
“No, you were detected. If you were an assassin, it would’ve ended when she saw you.”
“I got caught because I didn’t know. Now I know, I won’t get caught next time!”
So competitive, huh? Unfortunately, I doubted Yuna could beat Tillice. The gap was too great…
Of course, I didn’t say this directly. There’s no point in telling a stubborn kid she can’t do something.
Yuna whispered in my ear.
“Call me your student. Call me your pupil.”
“What? Did you hit your head?”
My excuse for saving her. Even though Yuna knew it was purely a tactic to escape danger, she was delighted.
“Hey, Johan.”
After all the fuss behind my back, she finally relaxed. Her voice was different, tense enough to make me uneasy. She had a way of probing my weaknesses in moments like this.
“Why didn’t you abandon me? Logically, that would’ve been the right choice, right?”
“….”
Right. Normally, pretending not to notice would’ve been the safest choice. Building a wall, keeping distance. Then Tillice wouldn’t have suspected or interrogated me.
But I risked it. If I failed, not just me but unconscious Ariel could be in danger.
Normally, I wouldn’t have done this.
“…If I were truly that cold, I wouldn’t have joined the Academy at this time anyway.”
I didn’t care about others’ misfortune, not really. But Yuna—could I really call her just another person? Unfortunately, I considered her a friend, even if she was insane.
“I see~”
Even without seeing her face, I could tell Yuna was smirking. Did I say too much? Maybe it was better to clarify.
“Now you understand, right? I’m not fit to be your student.”
With my clumsy emotional control, how could I be an assassin? Desire aside, our temperaments didn’t match.
“No? That’s not it.”
Yuna hummed cheerfully.
“Exactly because of that, you have more potential. If you were dry and cold, it’d be harder. How do you look to me?”
“How do I look?”
“You don’t seem cold or cruel, right?”
“…Right.”
“That’s what matters. Assassins who suppress their emotions are obvious. They’re treated as disposable. Efficient, in a sense.”
“…That’s not normal, talking about lives in terms of efficiency.”
“So what? They’re just people anyway.”
“….”
Yuna laughed.
She valued human life, but in a different way. This was directed at me. My own mannerisms reflected back at me.
“I’m a fearsome killer, but I never kill without reason. Those I killed… were mostly trash.”
“I know.”
Yuna, the Safe Clown, was closer to a dark hero. She judged her targets not by money, but by their background and whether they deserved death.
I didn’t know all of Yuna’s details, but in this harsh world, blindly claiming that killing is wrong is foolish. I’ve killed people too.
“That’s why there’s no one more suitable than you.”
“Could you at least consider my social background in that judgment?”
“Nope.”
Her arbitrary standards. Maybe she just liked me. Embarrassing as it was, it seemed that way.
“But Johan, can I ask something?”
“You’re only asking now?”
Haven’t we said everything by now? What could possibly require permission?
“What’s your goal?”
A vague question.
“Goal?”
“Yeah… a dream, an aim, something like that.”
“Not really. I’ll become a count’s heir just by breathing, so why think too hard? I just want to survive and graduate. Then I can escape from this rotten capital.”
“I see~”
Yuna smirked again.
“Doesn’t that seem a little odd?”
“…?”
“You’ve repeatedly run in fear like an ordinary person.”
“So I’d die if I fought?”
“You acted differently before. That woman was the most absurd monster I’ve ever seen. You saved me from her.”
“…….”
“You sometimes act as if death doesn’t scare you. It’s unsettling.”
I couldn’t let my guard down. No easy opponents anywhere. Robelia, who approached me without effort, and Yuna, who discerned things about me I hadn’t revealed.
Yes, I wasn’t afraid of death. I’ve already experienced it. I’ve died once and returned. I know what lies beyond. Death holds no fear for me.
“That’s your illusion. I’ve always acted consistently.”
“I see~”
What I feared was parting. Until now, that’s all I feared.
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Royal Technology Department, Coran Lekias, chief researcher, noticed something odd while investigating the Ex-Machina device.
“Hm, let’s disassemble it.”
“…What?!”
Researchers panicked. Mishandling it could trigger self-destruction. Not just their lives, but the risk of losing such technology was terrifying.
“I don’t think there’s a self-destruct mechanism. Still… hmm, we’ll know once we start dismantling it.”
Sharp intuition. Years of experience as a researcher. The team trusted the chief and began disassembling the device.
As Coran suspected, there was no self-destruct mechanism. The intricate interior was revealed: countless gears, steam engines.
“Th-This is incredibly precise…”
The researchers cheered. They knew the investigation would take time.