Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: The Siren's Silence
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The city's scenery was a bright gray. The bright sunlight unique to early noon neutralized the dark gray concrete.
Gazing at that scenery for a moment, a siren sound disrupted my ears. The suddenly started siren blared sharply, as if to tear the eardrums.
I frowned. Han U-sol seemed the same, touching his ear with his hand as he spoke.
"Anis, it looks like they've started."
"Don't talk while digging in your ear with your filthy finger."
"It's my ear. Are you ready?"
"……."
I shut my mouth.
"Anis. We're not supposed to throw the city into chaos or kill people. The chaos will be stirred up by the refugees, and the murders by the magic beasts. All you and I have to do is ambush Yeriel wherever she shows up then."
Han spoke to me gently, as if persuading me.
"……Yes."
I averted my gaze a little farther. Looking toward the entrance of Area A, I could see the people gathered there.
The people at the entrance were divided into those wearing black uniforms and those who weren't. The black uniforms were probably the traitors' private soldiers that Camilla had mentioned.
And among them, glimpses of familiar faces. I looked at them.
"……."
Han U-sol and Reisi. Next to them was DJ or something? They all had guns pointed at their heads. Han U-sol was completely pinned down, slammed into the ground.
The siren sound still vibrated over the achromatic city. By now, it was splitting my head.
Dizzy noise, tinnitus drowning out the noise, and then a few hallucinations overlaying the tinnitus.
My ears were numb, and one ear felt stuffed, like it had water in it. It was the sensation of half my head being asleep.
Unpleasant, I narrowed my eyes around the edges. The sounds separated, and the noise and tinnitus split in half.
I was still agonizing, hesitating, unable to make a decision, spectating, unable to choose,
unable to clearly judge what was right or wrong, what the standard was.
Rena calling me, Rockbell disappointed, my father reproaching, the contradictory halfwit who still couldn't decide on a footing to stand on—kill it, pray to God, time ticking away.
……Tick.
It was something I'd repeated to the point of tedium by now.
It was overambitious. The fate erased for me, summoned to this world by an absurd coincidence, was far too much for my vessel. It was excessively harsh for a small-time citizen like me to bear.
So I hesitate again. Pathetically.
But even as I hesitate, time doesn't wait.
The moment approaches.
――Whyyyyyyeeeeeeng
The siren blared even more noisily. It sounded like it was urging me to hurry up and choose, to decide.
My gaze remained fixed on Han U-sol and Reisi. Han stared blankly at me like that before finally opening his mouth.
"…Anis. Get ready."
"……."
I couldn't answer. I just unwillingly nodded.
And at that moment,
――――――.
The siren sound stopped.
"……This."
"…What is it? Why did the alarm stop all of a sudden?"
"I don't know. I've never heard of anything like…."
Han and I looked at each other.
It felt like something was going strangely wrong.
Corpses were strewn about. Pigs, toads, foxes, snakes, and rats.
Camilla gazed at the corpses expressionlessly. Her earlier cheerful mood had long since flown off somewhere.
The reason was that the bullets fired by Colton's subordinates had pierced not only the executives but the magic beasts as well.
"…I never told you to kill the magic beasts too."
"Sorry. They must have misunderstood 'kill them all.'"
"……Misunderstood?"
Camilla's eyebrow twitched. Despite her reaction, Colton calmly opened his mouth.
"No helping it. Even for a coup, we need some plausible justification, right? Killing the mayor and association head was fine, but sitting in those seats like that—it's questionable if the citizens would accept it. Especially if it's a regime seized by shaking hands with demons."
"…Right. Need a justification?"
"Exactly. This is to create a suitable one. The association was attacked by magic beasts, and I led my forces too late to exterminate them, but by then the beasts had already killed the mayor and association head. Something like that story."
Colton wanted a plausible justification. One sufficient to prevent backlash even after he took the mayor's seat.
Even if those in the know would realize he'd allied with demons, at least the citizens' fierce opposition would be avoided.
"Hah. Really? Justification. Justification. Is that really necessary?"
Camilla scoffed.
"Wasn't your plan to become mayor and reduce the human numbers to ascend as an angel? You were planning to drive humanity near extinction from the start, and now you suddenly want a justification the people can accept…? I don't get it."
It was a contradiction. Animals you plan to kill don't require permission or understanding.
Yet Colton was now citing justification to seek understanding from the very citizens he planned to kill.
"You never know how the world turns. Better to prepare for the worst."
"Pfft."
Camilla let out a hollow laugh. The back of her head was starting to tingle more and more.
"I apologize for acting on my own without a word. But can't you just resummon the magic beasts? Summon them again now and release them into Area A as planned. Then my private soldiers will lead the refugees and provide support."
Colton said nonchalantly. Camilla swallowed the curse rising in her throat.
Colton didn't know the exact state of the demons' forces. He could only guess that Kahtel was asleep and that few magic beasts remained.
That was why he was probing her now. Testing if she could summon more magic beasts, and if they were a threatening number, blatantly checking her hand.
Of course, the number she could summon right now was small. Even if she did, in this room full of waiting private soldiers, they'd be one-shotted the moment they appeared.
"…Are you short on magic beasts by any chance? Then just call Kahtel, no? I'd like to greet him personally while we're at it."
"………."
Having caught on, Colton now probed whether Kahtel himself could come here. Camilla couldn't answer.
Colton had repeatedly said he wanted to meet Kahtel. Each time, Camilla had brushed it off with 'Kahtel is busy right now.'
He'd seemed to accept it without much suspicion.
But no. It seemed Colton had always harbored doubts about it.
"Looks like he's in a state where he can't move."
If he couldn't come to him and couldn't come here either, the answer was one. Colton realized Kahtel was immobilized for some reason and smirked.
'…Shameless bastard.'
It was clear. Colton wasn't betraying humanity. He was just using Camilla for his own goals.
She'd been cleanly backstabbed.
Where it went wrong and what the problem was could be figured out later. For Camilla now, the important thing was to figure out how to escape this situation.
Camilla glanced at Betty. A short distance away. Even at best speed, it would take at least three steps to make contact.
'…Hey! Hey, you idiot! Look here! That bastard's not on our side anymore! We need to escape!'
Camilla threw silent glances at Betty, repeatedly winking. It was a soundless effort to draw Betty's eyes to her.
But Betty, still not grasping the situation, just wore a bewildered expression, and their eyes never met.
"The sudden winking—is that supposed to be seducing me? Quite the pitiful gesture."
"……Informal speech?"
"Now that I'm above you, a bit of informal speech should be fine, no?"
Click. Colton fiddled with the revolver at his waist. At that, the private soldiers simultaneously aimed their guns at Camilla and Betty. Only then did Betty panic and shout.
"Wh-what! What's this all of a sudden!? We didn't do anything wrong!"
"…Pfft. After groveling and flattering with polite speech all this time, now informal? What do you call this? The strong bully the weak, the weak bully the stronger? Pathetic man."
"The strong bully the weak, the weak bully the strong. Not a bad saying. True to it, I can't tolerate those beneath me using informal speech with me. And yet, here I am watching Camilla, who should be beneath me, doing just that, and my finger's unconsciously tightening. If I pull the trigger any more like this, there'll be a hole in Camilla's head—what a worry."
"Eek, sorry. Sorry. Don't shoot. I'll use polite speech~"
"Good. That's more like it."
…Fucking bastard.
Camilla muttered quietly so Colton couldn't hear.
"……But didn't you want power? You said you wanted power to control the entire city, the entire human race?"
"Yes. I wanted power enough to risk my life for it, enough to ally with demons."
"Then why pull this now? Huh? We were good together."
"Informal speech again."
"You said you risked your life for power? What's the reason for this sudden change?"
"Because I've already got everything I need."
"Chuckle. Bullshit."
Camilla narrowed her eyes and smiled.
He was a slave to power. He'd chased it his whole life, lived for it.
Such a man wouldn't settle for just the mayor's seat with angelic status right before him.
Had he realized her words were a lie? No, he might suspect, but certainty? He'd probably still be calculating inside whether her words were true or false.
'Secure at least the mayor's seat first, eliminate us, then slowly verify if my words were true?'
Since he'd obtained all the necessary information, it was possible. Camilla licked her lips, pondering what lie to spin to escape this crisis.
"What, do you want to become an angel alone and that's why you're killing us? If so, it's pointless. To perform the ritual to become an angel, you need our power…."
"No need."
Her words were cut off. Camilla tilted her head and asked again.
"……What?"
"I said no need."
"………."
"You're fundamentally misunderstanding from the start. You're treating my lust for power like some instinct that arises without reason. Is it because you're a psychopath who can't empathize with others? Big mistake if you think everyone lives driven by uncontrollable impulses like you."
Colton let out a hearty laugh.
"What do you think made me obsess over power?"
"………Dunno?"
Camilla couldn't understand.
Weren't vile desires like murderous urges or power lust just instinctive things that arose without reason? She couldn't fathom why anyone would attach a reason to them.
"My goal from the beginning was humanity's unity. That and only that. To band together as one, repel all threats to humanity, and bring peace to the world. That was my lifelong aspiration and wish."
"……Huh?"
"I lived desperately fixated on that. When I came to, I'd claimed one of the association executives' seats. When I first entered that meeting room of executives, I thought I'd finally be able to contribute and devote myself to humanity. But no. The world had more trash than I imagined. The rot eating away at humanity wasn't just bubbling outside the barriers—it was festering right in the city's heart."
Bribery, corruption, meddling, overreach, snide remarks while coveting each other's wealth. That place wasn't a roundtable deciding humanity's fate—it was just a pen crammed with vermin-like beasts.
Gluttonous pigs drowned in food lust let alley kids starve to death, and greed-filled toads forced the outskirts to live in squalid shanties.
Because of the sly foxes, snakes, and rats sowing division, humanity couldn't unite. Couldn't properly fight the magic beasts.
"In that stinking pen, I resolved myself. Someday, kill these bastards—the ones eating away at humanity and obstructing peace! And I'll lead humanity in the right direction myself!"
He started calmly, but Colton was soon pouring out words passionately. Pent-up anger leaked from within.
Camilla stared at Colton with eyes that still didn't understand.
"I hung my neck on power. I scraped together money ruthlessly, expanded my connections. Even if it was dirty, sordid deeds, I didn't hesitate."
Whether groveling or slamming his head on the floor, he did whatever he could. To replace the rotten upper echelons, Colton had infiltrated them. To someday sweep them all away and change things from the root.
If he could just revert the root that had rotted through, even allying with demons or selling his soul didn't matter.
After spilling words at length, Colton panted. Three seconds, two, one passed, and his heaving shoulders stilled and sank.
"And today, finally. I killed all the trash eating away at humanity, and I sat in the seat I'd so longed for."
"……Hah. This guy's completely…."
"Now, at last, humanity can become one. All that's left is to fight the demons and magic beasts."
"Completely insane bastard."
A true madman.
A lunatic who'd gamble by selling out humanity for humanity's sake, bringing in demons.
"Thanks for the praise."
With those words, strength entered Colton's finger.
"Betty!!!"
Camilla desperately called Betty's name and rushed toward her. She had to make contact with Betty right now and use her ability to escape this place.
Just three steps at most. But right now, it felt endlessly far.
When had he switched targets? The muzzle of Colton's gun, which had been following Camilla, was now aimed at Betty.
"Uh……."
Betty reacted a beat late.
Confirming the gun barrel pointed at her, her pupils contracted, faint fear etching in.
-Click.
The revolver's cylinder spun.
-Tick.
The trigger was fully pulled.
-Bang!
With a sound like a firecracker, the bullet flew toward Betty.