Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Chapter 21 - Saint Elena Island #5
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The drone had infiltrated the vicar's bedroom in the Martiel Cathedral.
The vast room was adorned with all sorts of luxurious items, but the most striking of them was undoubtedly the bed.
[The bed is enormous.]
[Highly inefficient use of space.]
"Yeah, tell me about it."
Even to Luther's eyes, it was an abnormally large bed.
It wasn't just wide—it was downright expansive.
The bed seemed at least seven meters across, wide enough that you could hold mixed martial arts matches on it instead of wrestling.
[I'll fast-forward until the vicar enters.]
"Sure."
Luther nodded, and the footage sped up before his eyes.
Of course, since it was just an empty room, the only sign of the speedup was the time stamp in the upper right corner of the display.
[She's entering.]
Around three in the afternoon.
After finishing her meal and conversation, Vicar Martiel returned to her room, sat down in a large armchair in one corner, and the dancers came in to prepare her bath while the holy knights set up detection magic circles.
[Pretty ordinary so far. Should I fast-forward a bit more?]
"Yeah."
Nothing noteworthy here anyway.
Luther nodded again, and the footage accelerated once more.
Vicar Martiel receiving a massage from the dancers.
Vicar Martiel suddenly stripping off her clothes and stepping into the massive bathtub.
The dancers following her into the tub.
And then—
[Stop! Freeze! Halt!]
Integra hurriedly paused the video and whipped her head around to look at Luther, who had instinctively been focusing in and now turned to her.
"W-What's up?"
He stammered in confusion, and Integra opened her mouth to speak but clamped it shut again, groaning in distress.
She always put on that seductive act to tease Luther, but in reality, she had virtually no tolerance for this kind of thing.
'Come to think of it, she's never actually seen anything like this... has she?'
Integra, the support AI, was effectively zero years old.
One year old, by Korean reckoning.
All prior records had been deleted.
And sure enough, her golden eyes had been trembling faintly since earlier.
As if she had no idea how to handle it.
"Uh, Integra?"
Can't we just skip ahead?
Truth be told, I don't particularly want to watch that kind of stuff with you either.
It's insanely awkward.
But despite Luther's suggestion, Integra shook her head vigorously, took a deep breath, and said,
[Master, I'll review it quickly on my own.]
[Please wait a moment.]
[Got it?]
"H-Huh?"
"Y-Yeah, okay."
If that's how she wants it, fine.
Someone has to check the footage thoroughly anyway.
As Luther stepped back, Integra swallowed hard again, then turned back to the frozen video.
[External playback stopped.]
[Internal playback starting.]
With her eyes closed, she uttered the command, and the footage of Vicar Martiel filling the room vanished.
Now, all that remained was Integra, kneeling demurely on the bed with her eyes shut.
Luther naturally found himself staring at her, and soon enough, complicated feelings welled up inside him.
[Urgh...]
Integra watching Vicar Martiel's footage.
Eyes closed, face flushed, groaning softly.
[Kyup—]
She nearly let out a scream but clamped her hand over her mouth, her face turning even redder.
[N-No way. Really? For real?]
Muttering to herself, swallowing hard, her face—and even her neck—turning crimson as she flailed in bewilderment.
Naturally, Luther's face heated up too.
He couldn't help it.
'Damn it.'
What kind of twisted torture is this?
Why show me this?
Overwhelmed with secondhand embarrassment, Luther tried to look away, but it wasn't easy.
Integra kept letting out gasps like "Heavens!" or "Oh my!" or "Kyaa!"—anyway, she wouldn't stop making noises.
'Wait, couldn't she just watch it privately?'
Without projecting her HUD like this, quietly, without a hint.
But whether on purpose or because she couldn't even conceive of it, Integra's viewing—no, her review—continued, leaving Luther fanning himself desperately through an agonizing hour or so.
Finally,
[Hoo, hoo, hoo.]
Having nearly finished reviewing the footage, Integra took deep breaths with her still-flushed face, and Luther faced her, feigning composure as best he could.
"All done?"
[A-Almost?]
Answering that way, she slowly opened her eyes, bit her lip slightly, and turned to Luther.
And then, her gaze drifted downward just a bit.
Luther flinched and instinctively covered his lower half with both hands.
"Integra?"
[Ahem. Ahem ahem.]
After several fake coughs, Integra plastered on a contrived smile and said,
[Review complete. Several facts confirmed.]
[Vicar Martiel is a pervert.]
[A total pervert.]
[Definitely a pervert.]
[She's a pervert.]
[This is based on reviewing 20 hours out of the 24-hour record where she appeared, so it's certain.]
Even as she stated it firmly, Integra's face flushed again.
The contents evidently flashing back in her mind.
"N-Nothing useful at all?"
[W-Well, not really?]
[But it's important reference material, so I'll save the data.]
She snapped her fingers, and a rectangular file appeared above her hand.
The title: 'Vicar Martiel Observation Log #1'.
For some reason, the category was labeled 'Educational', but Luther didn't point it out.
It would just make things more awkward for both of them.
Still, he couldn't let it slide entirely, so after a cough of his own, he said,
"Uh, Integra."
[Yes, Master.]
"Watch just enough. Moderately."
[Huh? W-W-What do you mean?]
As Integra's face turned beet red and she broke out in a cold sweat, Luther changed the subject instead of pressing further.
Teasing her was cute when she squirmed like that, but somehow, Luther felt like he was taking damage too.
"Anyway, total bust, huh?"
He hadn't expected solid evidence from just one night of surveillance, but it felt anticlimactic.
[Well... but Master, it's too early to conclude.]
"What do you mean?"
[Because there's another video.]
Another snap of her fingers brought up a second file.
[This one's from somewhere other than the bedroom.]
[Vicar Martiel spent 19 out of her 20 hours in the bedroom with the attached tub, but about 20 minutes in a small adjoining room.]
[Let's check that footage.]
"Did you split the drone?"
[For simple recording, a camera alone suffices.]
With a sly smile, Integra opened the file, and new footage unfolded before them.
Inside what looked like a dressing room.
Sweaty Vicar Martiel, clad only in a robe, stood before a full-length mirror.
Reflected was Vicar Martiel's toned body.
But only for a moment.
Luther and Integra, watching the mirror in the video, widened their eyes and swallowed hard.
[It changed.]
The reflection in the mirror.
Vicar Martiel standing before it remained the same. But the vicar inside the mirror transformed into a man wearing a red mask.
And then the events that followed.
The man in the mirror began conversing with Vicar Martiel.
* * *
Beastkin Jenadu stroked his white mask.
The plan to devastate the west using Demonbeast King Balakia.
It had failed miserably.
Reviving Balakia had succeeded, but nothing beyond that.
"In the end, we still don't know who was behind it?"
At Jenadu's low murmur, beastkin Marion bowed his head and begged forgiveness.
The day Demonbeast King Balakia revived.
A sudden mana vortex disrupted the mana flows across the area, creating a temporary 'Anti-Magic Field'.
As a result, not only was Demonbeast King Balakia's power weakened, but all the magic eyes dispatched to monitor the battlefield became useless.
'Demonbeast King Balakia fell.'
The outcome was known.
But not the process.
'Was it Arma Valentine after all?'
It was Arma Valentine and her disciple Anne Rose who had lured Balakia toward Asain Canyon.
As one of the world's top ten superhumans, had she used some hidden trump card to defeat him?
It was highly plausible.
No one else in the west at the time could have taken down Demonbeast King Balakia except Arma Valentine.
'But.'
There was someone nagging at him.
Unlike his exploits at the Gleston countess's estate, this one hadn't even shown his face in the fight against Demonbeast King Balakia.
'Luther Lightseeker.'
A week had passed since the Demonbeast King Balakia incident.
Arma Valentine had headed north with not only disciple Anne Rose but also her new disciple Karen and Karen's companion Max.
The genius who had caught Jenadu's own eye—Lilia Ailstones—remained in Venus City.
But Luther had vanished.
He had slipped away during the surveillance gap caused by the mana vortex destroying the west's magic eyes.
Where had he gone?
Was his involvement in the fight against Valboa and Astra coincidence or inevitability?
Jenadu cut off his own thoughts.
He sank deep into the chair's backrest and turned his gaze southward once more.
The plan underway in the south.
After laying the west to waste with Demonbeast King Balakia, unleash a massive tsunami to annihilate the south too.
The first part had already failed.
But the second had to become reality.
Jenadu closed his eyes.
He sent his consciousness to his sister watching over the south.
* * *
The masked man and the vicar's secret talk.
The conversation wasn't long—barely three minutes, just exchanging the bare essentials.
Once it ended, the vicar took some unidentified pill, rested briefly, and returned to her bedroom. The man in the mirror didn't appear again.
[Suspicious.]
The black-masked man in the mirror.
Unfortunately, they couldn't hear the conversation.
Whether due to some special magic tool, not a single word from the vicar came through.
Moreover, she had her back turned, and the man was masked, making lip-reading impossible.
[Master, does a black-masked man appear in the original story?]
"Yeah, but too many times—that's the problem."
[Too many?]
"Yeah, as you saw, it wasn't a distinctive mask. Lots of characters and enemies wear plain ones like that to hide their identities. Guessing Hecatoncheires based solely on the mask is... a stretch."
[Hmm, I see.]
But it was still a clue.
They couldn't confirm the vicar as a Hecatoncheires spy from this one secret meeting alone, but they had gained one piece of evidence for judgment.
[We'll need to investigate the other two candidates too.]
The queen of Malkuth Kingdom and the grand general.
"Yeah, we haven't even reached Malkuth Kingdom yet."
Plus, there was still time before the ritual.
He could decide after experiencing the queen and grand general firsthand.
[So, Master, what are your plans for today?]
[The ship to Malkuth Kingdom departs tomorrow morning.]
About 20 hours of free time left.
After a moment's thought, Luther grinned mischievously.
"Shall we go again?"
[To indulge in bad civilization?]
Bad civilization.
No—good civilization now.
Instead of answering, Luther equipped his X-ray vision visor, and Integra giggled, clinging tightly to his arm.
The next morning.
Having earned a spot on the blacklist of both Bruno Auction House and Inia Casino, Luther boarded the ship bound for Malkuth Kingdom.