The Heavenly Mandate Cult's Optimized Talent

Just as Parmenia had expected, the guard captain was stubborn.

They had scrubbed away as much of the blood they'd been drenched in as they could and erased every point that might look suspicious, and still the muzzles of the guard detail, locked into a firing net, would not permit Lupin to take a single step closer. If they had only laid the act on just thick enough, it might have been fine—but what was done was done. With no other choice, Parmenia steeled herself to be shot and walked straight up to the guard captain. There was a statement that she had been given a blunt little shove, though Parmenia herself denied it.

"It's me. I'm the real Parmenia. Hngh."

"Look at this veil! Even seeing this, you're going to say I'm not Parmenia?"

"That person was poisoned by a toxin I made. She was hallucinating. That's why she ended up taking the blame in my place just now. Hic..."

"I was going to run away just like this."

"But my conscience wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't help it."

"Waaah... And besides, what that woman showed you earlier was a sloppy act, wasn't it?"

"Please look at my sincerity. I'm really, really serious!"

Lupin watched, and still couldn't tell whether it would work. Even if the man were a single-celled organism, the truth had been flipped three times in a single day—and he was going to swallow this too? Of course, the one who had engineered the situation had no business thinking that. But while Lupin was busy with such foolish thoughts, Parmenia's cunning tongue flicked and darted, coaxing the guard captain along until she had him utterly conquered.

What he said, right after swooning in a flush of passion, was truly a spectacle.

"Would you run away with me? Forget everything you did in the Cult. We'll live as an ordinary couple."

Wasn't that the sort of thing you said somewhere the rest of the guard wasn't standing around? At this rate, wasn't he going to get himself shot for breaking military law? Lupin, for her part, tore into a bag of popcorn with her heart in her throat.

"I believe you could never be the kind of villainess the world says you are."

"No. I'm a bad person... I think I absolutely have to pay for that sin."

The guard captain wept tears of blood. Why, in the very hour when he ought to have been rejoicing over the capture of a tremendous felon, was he chewing up and swallowing that kind of heartache? It was a bounty of 250,000 gold, for heaven's sake. Lupin could not understand his heart in the slightest.

The whole affair wrapped up in about an hour.

"I cannot break your stubbornness, so I have no choice. Take her away."

Parmenia—arrest complete.

Yegor and Vatslava, who had been held in detention, were released, and Parmenia took their place in that room. Only then did the guard captain ask Lupin for the truth for the first time: the meeting with the bandit chief, the business of the bumbling giant, the fact that the women bound up to threaten Lupin had actually been corpses. Perhaps because Parmenia was already in custody, simply showing the equipment those women had used in life was enough to neatly settle matters that had looked tangled.

At the last, after recording the serial number written on the back of Lupin's adventurer badge, the guard captain flattened himself to the floor and apologized to the party.

"I am truly sorry."

Whether he had fallen completely for Parmenia's acting, his eyes were still full of pity and a wistful ache.

"For opening fire without properly identifying you. For detaining your companions for so long. For suspecting you of being a Shrine Maiden. I apologize for all of it."

And yet the apology itself was rational to a chilling degree. To Lupin, who turned into a sage the moment she opened a treasure chest, it seemed as though she almost understood—and then didn't.

"To apologize for the trouble we've caused, we will see to it that you may rest in our barracks until the day you depart."

He meant the barracks converted from a portion of the station. Lupin, though, would sooner use a building in the city than sleep in those barracks. She had already taken a room, and if they stayed here it was obvious they'd get swept up in sleeping poison for nothing.

Refusing the offer, she casually handed the guard captain two bottles.

"These. You absolutely must ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not let Parmenia find out."

"What is this?"

"Parmenia's going to scatter sleeping poison tonight and bolt. This is the antidote, so keep it on you, and the moment you sense something's off, drink it and don't let her escape."

"...Escape, you say."

In truth, Lupin's companions had no need of an antidote. If they fell asleep, she could simply pick them up and carry them off.

"Hmm. Your love for Parmenia is so impressive, Captain, that I found myself cheering you on before I knew it."

At this rate, aren't I Cupid?

Lupin stroked the bridge of her nose and tugged the corners of her mouth into a grin.

"Have a beautiful love!"

For a Shrine Maiden of the Cult, Parmenia was far too pure. There were several things she had gotten badly wrong on this journey. First, getting entangled with Lupin. Second, believing in Lupin with all her heart. Third, entrusting Lupin with the most important role in the escape plan.

"Stupid bastard of a guard captain. Hehe. Better get me untied quick so I can run."

"What did you just say?"

"......Huh?"

"It's true that I'm stupid. But I only look stupid because I've fallen so hard for you, Parmenia."

"Th-this isn't how it's supposed to go?!"

"I will give you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a choice. Will you flee with me into the night? Or will you be transferred to Ginnungagap?"

Her medical bag had been taken, and she had handed all five of her lethal poisons over to Lupin. So when the guard captain caught her mid-escape, Parmenia was hardly different from an ordinary person who could do nothing at all. From the moment she had joined hands with Lupin, she'd had no choices left.

"The... flight into the night. I'll take that..."

"Ah. I knew you would choose so. Hahahaha!"

That became the fuse of Parmenia's transformation. Though she had been tormented again and again by a powerhouse named Klein, she had never been able to give up her frailty or the comfort of an indoor life—and now, at last, she took into her heart a grand ambition called revenge.

In the dark before dawn, on a wild hill a little way out from Viskogorsk, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the guard captain howled, half-naked, fingers plugged into the holes all over his body where the blood streamed down.

"Why... We agreed to run away together—!"

Words that appealed to mercy put up no resistance at all against the violence that followed.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Crunch, crunch, thud.

The sharp stone clutched in Parmenia's hand tore, shattered, and punched through the guard captain's whole body with terrifying force. The Cult lost one precious scientist and tailor, and gained a single mad dog whose eyes had gone white with revenge.

"That bitch. If I'm going to kill her... I have to get stronger..."

For the Cult, it was a truly bone-deep loss—one that would send crashing down a rate of scientific progress that had been running ahead of the continent's two great powers.

Lupin shuddered, a thin whimper slipping out of her, and opened her eyes. It had felt as if she were being chased by some monster that was nothing but a bundle of vivid red fur—but when she came to, she was still in the inn where she had stayed the night before. Morning. No—it was still dawn. Around six, more or less.

She finished off the liquor left in the glass on the table from the night before, then dropped her head back onto the bed.

"What was that. Feels like I had some kind of nightmare..."

But whenever something truly ominous was about to happen, Big Brother Taechang and Big Sister Byeol always let her know. And so Lupin, thinking of nothing in particular, gazed at the relic window and hummed.

Tailoring, was it.

Come to think of it, since dropping into the world of Elysium she had never once made a piece of clothing. There had been a time she was tricked by two women and shut inside a mimic, and every stitch she wore was taken from her—but the next day a perfectly intact new outfit had been left outside the mimic. Perhaps the clothes themselves were bound to a Dimensional Drifter, the way the Winged Garment, once obtained, could be freely summoned. So whenever an outfit started to feel as if she'd worn it too long, she could use a simple method and change into a new one. The catch was that she had to strip all the way down to her underwear, which made it hard to try every time—possible only when she had a private space like this.

"Sniff, sniff. Guess I really ought to change."

In a flutter of cloth, Lupin peeled off everything she was wearing, underwear included, and dumped it carelessly on the floor. Then she took up her sword and split the bundled clothes clean in half. Feeling four heavy weights sway with the inertia, she sheathed the blade—and pop. Just as an item might be delivered to an invisible mailbox, a new outfit was provided in her blind spot before she knew it. As if Big Sister Byeol or Big Brother Taechang, unable to bear the sight of their kid running around stark naked, had slipped it in for her. Well, since it emerged from a blind spot in her vision, even Lupin could only imagine that was the case.

The new clothes delivered that way were quite fragrant, so even Lupin, sensitive as she was to smells, could put them on in a very good mood. In a sense, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she alone was making use of a modern private laundry.

Sniff, sniff. While she was breathing in the soft, freshly laundered scent, the smell of a delicious breakfast drifted into her nose. The menu was eggs, bacon, and bread—the fundamentals of the fundamentals, but a solid morning spread. Ordinary Lupin skipped breakfast often enough that having someone lay it out like this was a blessing in itself.

Kicking her way through the bandits sprawled every which way, collapsed in a tumbled heap, she bounded down the stairs, and Yegor looked at her with a puzzled face.

"You're up already."

"Breakfast is waiting for me. Can't be late."

"While you were coming down, you might have woken Vatslava."

"She'll get up on her own. She's at the age where she ought to handle that herself. Meddling only stresses her out more."

Clashing fork against knife, Lupin sang a little breakfast, breakfast song. Soon a plate was set before the food-obsessed idiot of a woman—a meal whose balance had only half come together.

It was a mountain village, and under the lockdown the ingredients were in a wretched state. Even Yegor had his limits when it came to making do with what wasn't there. The smell had definitely been good. Didn't it feel a little empty, though? Lupin tapped the plate with her utensils and muttered.

"We really ought to get to a big city soon..."

"Agreed. Seen everything you needed to see?"

"Pretty much, I think? Hey, you happen to know a decent tailor?"

"A tailor. Go to Novi Rostov, where Administrator Tasili is, and there ought to be at least one decent one."

"Oh, nice, nice. The train comes tomorrow, so until then I can just hunt for more treasure chests."

Curiosity stirred, and Yegor asked. She was his employer, after all; the question began from a wish to understand her even a little. Otherwise he'd be in for another round of silent training on the train to Novi Rostov.

"Same when you talk in your sleep. Why in the world do you hunt those damned treasure chests so hard?"

By way of example, Lupin offered a famous line from a person she respected—and whom she also believed thought the most like her.

"Well, because a treasure chest holds infinite possibility."

After that she poured out every ornate phrase she had: panacea, complete food, dopamine boost. Naturally Yegor didn't catch even half of what she said. To an ordinary person for whom treasure chests themselves were unfamiliar, Lupin's anecdotes sat on far too high a plane.