Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: Nice to Meet You
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Seras Evatrice was the Pontiff's direct aide, the leader of one of the continent's most infamous shadow organizations, the Pledge of the Crescent Moon, and a monstrous assassin so feared in the underworld that merely hearing her name could sap men's will to fight.
Usually, someone saddled with such a lengthy title stayed in the back lines, overseeing whether the field operatives were doing their jobs properly.
But every now and then, she had to step out herself to deal with someone.
Most often, it was a target too tricky to assign to regular personnel.
For example...
When the target was guarded by former Imperial Guard knights.
One of them could match a full regular knight squad in power. Two made a platoon. Three, a company.
That was the reputation of the Imperial Guard.
Unless the Guardians lost to history came back to life, they were one of the Empire's strongest forces.
It was overkill to assign even one to bodyguard duty—like sending a dungeon raid force to an impregnable fortress.
No matter how much assassins specialized in ambushes and one-on-one combat, clashing head-on with specs like that was a definite burden.
Which meant...
This was exactly the right situation to deploy her.
“Mon, monster...!”
“...”
A word so familiar it didn't even spark a reaction anymore.
Seras gazed expressionlessly at the man who uttered it.
Nearby lay corpses splattered in blood. They were the guards this fat man had trusted to protect him even if the sky fell—right up until moments ago.
Among them were even Imperial Guard alumni, knights no ordinary foes would dare face.
“...Compared to their active days, their skills are disappointingly pathetic.”
Muttering that, Seras casually tossed aside the “tool” she had used to create this scene.
A dining knife and fork.
With just those, she had slaughtered everyone here.
Seras Evatrice. One of the only two [Grand Assassins] on the entire continent.
At that level, this sort of feat was hardly difficult.
“Smuggling within the Holy Kingdom, multiple counts of attempted murder, and narcotics trafficking.”
Seras wiped the blood from her face and spoke.
“You. You've got plenty of reasons to die.”
“Who, who sent you! I'll pay double what they offered!”
A weary sigh was her reply.
“Who knows. It's an order from His Holiness. No matter how much you offer, you won't be leaving here.”
“His, His Holiness? The Pontiff? That bastard! He just wants to swallow up the land I bought near the sanctuary with that cheap tri—!”
Before he could finish, the fat man's voice cut off abruptly.
Probably because Seras had kicked his gut.
The motion was barely a tap, but the effect was astonishing.
“...!”
His insides churned in an instant. He retched, eyes rolling back, blood gushing from every orifice.
She had precisely struck the pressure points.
“Don't sully His Holiness's name with that filthy mouth of yours. He's not someone the likes of you can casually invoke.”
Her icy voice dropped over the writhing man in agony.
“S-sorry...! Sorry...!”
Unable to even finish his words, the man rolled on the floor, screaming.
“W-wait, just, hear me out...!”
“I'll allow some last words. Speak.”
“The land, I'll give it all up! I-I'm not even asking for forgiveness! I'll stand public trial!”
He clearly had the savvy to snap up land near the sanctuary His Holiness coveted.
Even now, he quickly grasped what the other side wanted and knew when to yield.
Offering a public trial meant handing over anything the Holy Kingdom wanted seized beyond just that land. Mathematically, it might profit more than killing him outright.
Even Seras tilted her head slightly and stroked her chin upon hearing it.
“...Hm.”
With a snort, she approached the man sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath, and stood before him.
“You're right. Even a criminal like you deserving of death—strictly speaking, keeping you alive and taking everything would be more profitable.”
A flicker of hope lit the pain-twisted man's face at her emotionless words.
Perhaps his earnest plea had gotten through, after all.
“But.”
Seras continued with a beaming smile.
Her eyes weren't smiling at all.
“That's got nothing to do with me, does it?”
She was about to deliver the line that would plunge his expression back into despair.
“Because I just want to kill you.”
“Why, why...!”
“You insulted His Holiness, didn't you? That's reason enough.”
As she said it—or rather, was about to—the man's throat was lightly slit with a swish.
Seras had merely swept her hand horizontally in place.
“...”
She looked down at the blood now splattered on her suit.
Her fine brows furrowed deeply. His Holiness had praised how well it suited her. And now it was ruined on a mission like this.
“His Holiness won't mind something like this.”
“...Vizla?”
Seras, who had been openly displeased, suddenly sensed a presence and turned.
Vizla. Head of the “Exorcists,” a subordinate group under the Pledge of the Crescent Moon.
He should have been monitoring “that man” at the academy right now. What brought him here?
“...”
Then it hit her.
Her expression soured further.
Dawood Campbell.
The only one among those who harmed the Pontiff that she hadn't killed yet.
His Holiness had said to leave him be, since he still had “utility value.”
“This is a special mission directly ordered by the Pontiff.”
Seras, who had been scowling throughout, lit up with a radiant smile at those words.
“His Holiness ordered it directly to me?”
Her voice brimmed with girlish excitement, like a girl in love.
“...”
Of course.
With her covered head to toe in blood, making that face, even stoic Vizla felt chills rack his body.
“...Yes.”
And, by coincidence...
“From your expression, it seems you've already guessed who it's about.”
Vizla brought up the man she'd just thought of.
He pulled a magic orb from his pocket.
It recorded the Pontiff seated at his desk, speaking.
[It's nearly time, Seras.]
As Vizla activated it, the Pontiff's calm voice emanated from within.
Seras immediately prostrated herself there.
Even without the man present, as if she couldn't possibly neglect decorum.
['Paradise' must be brought into the world soon. It's not far off. So, we must begin solidifying our foundation.]
“Command me in anything.”
[The first step is eliminating any potential disruptors to the plan.]
His voice continued evenly.
[Especially anyone who wields demon-related powers freely—they must be dealt with swiftly. Infiltrate Elpante and inflict a mortal wound on that man. Don't kill him. It's not time for that yet.]
“As you command, Your Holiness.”
[A few months in a coma should suffice. Say... three months?]
“Three months. Understood.”
Vizla watched Seras with a stiff, silent expression.
Her eyes sparkled as she responded to the Pontiff's words one by one, as if in live conversation.
A bizarre scene, eerie enough to unsettle. As if she couldn't just passively listen to a recording. As if hearing it was honor enough.
This bordered on fanatic loyalty.
“...”
Frankly, Vizla didn't like the Pontiff.
He wasn't just black-hearted; watching him made you feel he didn't see other humans as human at all.
But with the organization's leader this devoted, he couldn't show it openly.
The internal sentiment probably aligned with his own.
“Vizla.”
“Yes, Liege.”
“Arrange an infiltration route and timing into Elpante? You'd know, having lived there.”
“...”
But.
Seras clearly didn't care about such opinions.
She had good reason.
No one in the organization could defy her overwhelming prowess.
That was the renown of a Grand Assassin, one of only two on the continent.
“...Infiltration is possible as early as tomorrow. If our intel holds, that man should return around then.”
“No reason to wait, then. Prepare transport. I'm going now.”
Seras added after a brief pause.
“...I'm looking forward to it.”
“Pardon?”
“Finally getting to stick a blade in that man.”
“...”
Ah, so that's it.
Ecstasy at finally slaying the Pontiff's enemy, no doubt.
But.
Deploying a Grand Assassin just to handle one student? Everyone would raise eyebrows.
It wasn't even using a cow knife on a chicken. More like nuking a flea with tactical weaponry.
‘...We'll see.’
Vizla sighed inwardly.
He hadn't observed Dawood Campbell for long.
But one thing was clear.
‘That guy's a walking wildcard.’
Undoubtedly.
Things wouldn't unfold as smoothly as the Pontiff and Seras thought.
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[But is that really so hard?]
Kalliban tossed that at me as I sat in the cabin, pondering gravely.
[For someone like you, seducing one girl in a month should be a breeze. A month? You could do it in a week.]
“...”
What does he take me for?
I glared at Kalliban in disbelief.
“Don't talk nonsense. A week? Come on.”
[That's surprising. I figured you'd definitely—]
“One day is plenty.”
[...]
Ignoring the speechless Kalliban, I sank back into thought.
Actually, it wasn't that weird for Painol to ask me to “seduce” her.
The reason I could do it in a day wasn't because I was some master of women's hearts—it was straight from the original story.
There was a route where, while friends with Eliya Chrisanax, she asked you to awaken her “emotions.”
“...Of course, that assumes she's a normal living being.”
The problem was...
The reason she wanted it: to “die.”
Resurrection by a lion wasn't something that happened easily.
Demons didn't give anything for free. Structurally impossible.
If you died and came back, you lost something in exchange.
[What're you talking about?]
And what Painol had lost was...
“She can't feel anything, that guy.”
[...What?]
“Touch, smell, sight, pain, hearing... all gone. Even emotions.”
A living corpse.
No phrase described Painol more accurately.
Originally, she'd likely have been a zombie-like state, barely alive and incapable of anything. Her acting human despite that was just masterful mana control disguising it.
She substituted her senses with mana manipulation at a level she could wield effortlessly, like breathing.
But even that had limits.
You couldn't fake “emotions” with mana.
That was why Fatal Charm didn't work on her.
“She probably thinks that if she regains everything she lost upon revival, she can break the demon's leash that revived her.”
Better to die again than live in this state.
Senses could be replaced with her own mana. Awakened by her own power.
But emotions...
No way to revive them. That despair must have been crushing.
In that sense...
My constitution that seduces anyone tied to demons was her only hope.
In the original, she'd approach Eliya Chrisanax, who tangled with them often. But now, I was the far superior option for demon-related interactions.
[...So she wants you to seduce her to die.]
“Yeah.”
[Fine. So what's your plan to make her feel emotions again?]
“...”
I had one.
Complicated, but it existed.
“...First, some people need cheering up.”
The homunculus sisters.
Yuria and Lucien.
The first step to awakening Painol's emotions started with them.
“...”
But ordinary methods probably wouldn't cut it.
I'd need something flashy, a real event.
[Crazy shit, huh?]
“Why do you assume that's what I mean when I say something big?”
[Name one time you didn't?]
Fair point.
Still, given the sisters' inclinations, it'd work for sure.
Just...
“...As long as no weird psycho chick gets in the way during the plan.”
[Somehow feels like you're shelling every girl around you.]
“...”
Never happened.
People see what they wanna see.
“Besides, people like that aren't common, and running into one so easily? What're the odds.”
The demon vessels that canonically swarmed me were avoiding me now.
Unless a new one popped up, the chance of interference was minuscule.
Yawning, I gazed at the massive academy looming in the distance from the station.
“...Home.”
Elpante sprawled before me, and I muttered blankly.
Not strictly home, but after a full day on the train, it felt like it.
Spending a day confined in a train was more grueling than expected.
‘...Get in, wash up, rest a bit.’
Even with tons to do, no rest meant nothing got done.
Glancing around with that in mind, students began pouring out from the train.
“...Whoa...”
The sudden subway-rush-hour-like crush of people swept me up as I blurted that.
No joke—the density pushed you along without effort.
And that's when I felt it, amid the packed crowd.
[System Message]
[ Crisis situation detected. ]
[ Judged as an extreme, massive, absolute threat to life. ]
[ Applying 'Skill: Desperate Situation' at EX rank. ]
My eyes widened at the abrupt window.
“...?”
What the hell?
This timing?
“...!”
Gritting my teeth, I scanned around.
The killing intent lingered, unmistakably aimed at me.
Not sensitive to auras like martial masters, I couldn't gauge distance precisely, but instinct said mere meters away.
Yet the crowd's density hid who—or direction.
The killing intent closed in.
Closer. An arm's length. A few steps.
Close enough to see the face if nearby.
At this rate, I'd get hit!
As I braced to leap away, flooring it if needed...
[System Message]
[ 'Skill: Desperate Situation' deactivated! ]
[ Target 'Seras Evatrice' sees you and suffers mental shock! ]
[ 'Skill: Fatal Charm' activates! ]
[ Target's hostility vanishes! ]
[ Target 'Seras''s 'Favorability' unlocks! ]
“...?”
Such a window...
Popped up out of nowhere.
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