Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Chapter 26
No matter how I thought about it, something felt wrong. I couldn't help but think that the people Lucia called weren’t a guardian and a warrior to support me, but assassins targeting me.
“What is this?”
Baekyang was playfully creating ice obstacles in the path Lucia and I were taking. She wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that she was following us.
I could still understand that much. Weren't goblins beings who enjoyed playing pranks on people?
Yeah, that was possible…
But Eleanor was different. I couldn't understand what she was thinking. Normally, she would have gone berserk by now, but she was just quietly watching us. I couldn't read her expression.
Even with [Contemplation] activated, it was the same. I couldn’t decipher the meaning behind those murky eyes.
“…Prince Oz? Did something happen with Noah?”
“It did.”
Just yesterday. We made a rather serious promise. According to that promise, I should find her in this situation and talk to her. But wouldn't that ruin the mood, no matter what?
“Was it bad timing?”
“The absolute worst. If you were planning to assassinate me, you’ve half-succeeded.”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at Lucia, and she averted her gaze. But her tail bristled, so thankfully, she seemed to understand how pissed off I was.
After a moment of hesitation, fiddling with her tail, Lucia sighed and made a suggestion.
“It can’t be helped. After we’re done today, should I make an excuse that I dumped you?”
“Why are you dumping me? If anyone’s doing the dumping, it should be me.”
“That’s fine too, but… can you handle the aftermath?”
Lucia flicked her stiff tail and pointed in a direction. It was where Eleanor and Baekyang were hiding.
I understood from that single gesture.
If I said I dumped Lucia here, I didn’t know if I could handle the consequences.
“…Humiliating.”
After yesterday's incident with Eleanor, it seemed I couldn't escape my fate as a laughingstock in this area. Did I have to experience being dumped before even confessing, in this world of all places? How cruel.
“I’m sorry it turned out like this, Prince Oz. It hurts my heart to think I have to say I dumped you.”
“Don’t try to manipulate me. Just say it wasn’t a date. Come to think of it, why are we talking about dumping each other in the first place?”
“That’s true. Then should I just make the excuse that Prince Oz summoned me because you needed my knowledge?”
“Yes, and the knowledge I need is alchemy. Specifically, potion brewing.”
“You’re a robber…”
Well, who started the provocation? This wouldn’t have happened if we had just been clear about what we wanted from each other. Even now, Eleanor's gaze was sending chills down my spine, and I had already made a lot of concessions.
“There are various types of potions, but…”
“Mana recovery.”
“…Do you really have a situation where you’ll be short on mana?”
Lucia looked up at me in surprise. Her expression was filled with suspicion and astonishment, but I wished she would stop, considering how it might look to the troublemakers following us. I could feel their gazes on the back of my head.
Crack.
Lucia stomped on an ice pillar Baekyang had created near her feet, shattering it. Lucia almost tripped due to Baekyang’s perfectly timed act of malice.
“Focus.”
“R-right… First, the essential ingredients for a mana recovery potion are…”
Lucia quickly regained her composure and continued her explanation. Most of it was information I had already confirmed in books, but the Empire's manufacturing know-how seemed quite helpful.
“You have to maintain a temperature of 80-85℃ during the reaction.”
“What happens if it goes over or under?”
“If it’s under, the Undine’s Droplets won't melt, and if it goes over, it’ll react with the blue moss catalyst and become unusable.”
“That's a tricky condition.”
Lucia continued her explanation while making various movements. It was because of Baekyang, who kept creating ice obstacles in her path.
“…Baekyang?! Could you please stop?”
Exasperated by the blatant pranks, Lucia finally yelled.
Baekyang, as if she had never intended to hide, peeked out from behind a wall with a mischievous smile, then quickly disappeared.
“This is driving me crazy! Why are you only targeting me?”
“Because you threatened to kill me.”
She calmed down after I glared at her with [Contemplation] activated. After the previous incident and the training session, Baekyang had given up on defying me. It was a desirable outcome, but I should be careful when I went near Goblin Forest later.
“…Prince Oz is impartial.”
“Not really.”
Considering how I gave Eleanor and Arietta special treatment, I was also swayed by emotions.
“This is tiring. I thought this was a date.”
“It’s an escort mission. Why do you keep saying that?”
If she kept it up, Eleanor might pull out her sword, so she should stop.
“Well, either way… my throat is dry from talking while dodging obstacles.”
Lucia subtly hinted, pointing to a stall selling fruit juice. She was asking me to buy her one. Honestly, buying her a fruit juice wouldn't be a problem, but how was she planning to deal with the aftermath?
“Continue.”
“Ah, thank you.”
I bought a fruit juice and handed it to her, and Lucia accepted it with a bright smile. Did she like sour things even though she was a cat person? Lucia took a big gulp of the juice, then continued speaking impolitely, chewing on the straw. It seemed she liked the juice, which was a relief.
“And when the reaction occurs, adjust the acidity to 7 through titration… hmm? There seems to be a festival.”
“…….”
Lucia tilted her head and pointed forward.
I followed her gaze and saw a large crowd of people dancing, chatting, and moving around. Like a parade, the group was moving forward energetically. I momentarily froze at the sight.
“If we go into that crowd, the risk of assassination will increase, and we’ll lose the people tailing us. What are you planning to do? Are you going to take a detour?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmm? I never imagined the Successor of the Mage King would suggest a detour.”
“Sorry, but this situation is more dangerous than you imagine.”
“What do you m— Mmph?!”
“Shut up, please be quiet. Just wait for them to pass. We shouldn’t encounter them right now.”
I covered Lucia’s mouth and whispered a warning. Her cat ears twitched and her tail thrashed.
Couldn't she stay still?
[Contemplation] allowed me to see through the opponent’s expressions and intentions.
That's why I had activated [Contemplation] the moment I left Scientia. That way, I could filter out those who were hostile or held murderous intent towards me while I moved.
Had I directly encountered about three people so far? I was able to avoid them without incident by naturally creating distance, but this time was different.
“Did you see someone dangerous in the crowd?”
“Yes…”
It was a bit different, but I agreed for now. It would be easier if she just accepted it since it would take too long to explain otherwise.
“Someone you consider dangerous…”
Lucia muttered, calming her bristling tail.
I was more surprised. Even now, my heart felt like it was about to burst. At first, I thought I was mistaken.
No, it was more accurate to say that it was difficult to recognize.
“So? Who was it?”
“…….”
“You’re not planning on telling me, as usual?”
I almost wanted to applaud Lucia for trying to extract information even in this situation. I felt like throwing up, and I was almost envious of her ignorance.
“Uh… Prince Oz? You look pale…”
“I need to rest for a bit.”
I muttered, leaning against a nearby bench with Lucia’s help.
It was difficult to put into words how [Contemplation] discerned hostility.
If I had to make an analogy, it was like a red light flashing from someone with murderous intent.
And the crowd I just saw was a group of red.
Beneath the smiles and chatter of the people, a thick, viscous murderous intent was suppressed, as if about to explode.
The child holding a balloon, the man selling cotton candy, the elderly raising their glasses, they were all in cahoots. Their contradictory appearances gave me goosebumps. They blended into the crowd like a plague, dyeing everything their color.
{Parade}, one of the main villainous groups in Broken Sky, was that kind of organization.
They consumed ordinary people and turned them into monsters. Monsters of the inner self, not the outer appearance. They changed people's values. They were a criminal organization that would appear in earnest from Chapter 13 of the main story, after Tia’s death.
This meant they were a group I absolutely shouldn't encounter at this point, at the beginning of Chapter 2.
Doomsday cultists who were neither on the side of humans nor the 'Outer Beings,' but hostile to both.
And the one who led them was the last Key Person, whose name and face remained unknown, only their title revealed.
[KP Spokesperson of the Other Side]
I was kidnapped into this world before the game's story was completed. I knew Oz died, but I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know how the later parts of the story ended. But I could make some guesses based on the foreshadowing and plot twists revealed so far. The one who shattered the sky, brought in the 'Outer Beings,' and ultimately killed Oz was likely the leader of Parade, the [Spokesperson of the Other Side].
Why? Why were they wandering around the heart of the Empire at this point in time?
What were they planning?
Had they come to kill me?
[Erosion Rate 30%]
Even after maximizing [Contemplation] and pondering with the [Erosion Rate] at its peak, I couldn't figure it out. I had too little information. Even in the game, their true objective wasn’t revealed, so I had no clues to work with. I was going crazy with anxiety.
“Master, are you alright? Do you want something to drink?”
“…Yes.”
When I came to my senses, Eleanor and Baekyang were already close by. Lucia, realizing something was wrong, must have called them over.
“…How brave.”
They dared to approach Eleanor. Lucia and the other two were positioned as if to protect me. Perhaps I had narrowly escaped death thanks to her.
“It’s good that you came to your senses quickly. The crowd is starting to disperse. Master, you’re… popular, you know?”
“No need to beat around the bush. I’ve known there are a lot of bastards targeting me since I escaped from Spellerge.”
The Empire wasn't completely safe. When I first arrived, the imperial army escorted me, but now it was different. I was completely vulnerable. They wouldn't give up on assassination just because I was from another country. My neck held the future of a nation, after all. They wouldn’t let that go easily.
“Let’s go back quickly. I’ll scold you for your mistake later.”
“I don’t know what I did wrong, but it’s too late.”
There weren’t many people left where Parade had passed through like a festival. Just a few passersby and some vagrants. And they were all assassins targeting me. They had gathered quite well.
Compared to when I encountered Parade just now, they were much calmer, but it was enough to make me realize how popular I was.
This was the first time I had received this much attention in my life, and I didn’t like it.
As expected, I was different from an attention-seeker like Eleanor.
“Lucia, shoot the vagrant at 45° 21 meters in front of me.”
“Sure.”
Bang!
The moment she heard my words, Lucia drew the pistol hidden beneath her skirt and pulled the trigger. Not a moment of hesitation. Perhaps because she was a trained soldier, she didn’t question anything in this situation. It was chilling.
“Uh… did you kill him?”
“Stay where you are, Noah. Don’t approach.”
The vagrant, who had been lying on the ground as if asleep, didn’t move even after being shot by Lucia. If anyone else had seen it, they would have thought he was instantly killed by the gunshot.
About two seconds passed. The vagrant remained motionless.
“Kyaaa!”
“S-she killed him!”
Then, as if finally grasping the situation, the passersby started screaming.
No, they were acting like panicked passersby. They were decoys trying to confuse our group, except for Lucia and me.
“Shoot the two who just yelled.”
“Sure.”
Bang! Bang!
Lucia pulled the trigger again without hesitation. But the result was a little different. The passersby who had been screaming in panic immediately drew their weapons with practiced movements and blocked the shots.
They didn't want to die after all.
“Baekyang, forward.”
“Okay~”
Clap!
Baekyang spread her hands as if opening sliding doors. Ice shields formed from the cold air flowing between her fingers. The preparations were complete.
“Noah, kick the one who comes close.”
“It looks so cool when you give orders like that while sitting on the bench, Master. Let me try that later!”
“When you get a little smarter. And focus. This is valuable training for real combat experience.”
Eleanor kicked the approaching man in a suit without hesitation, sending him flying.
“Uh… come to think of it, isn’t this just real combat?”
Perhaps because I hadn’t directly ordered her to kill, she didn’t seem uncomfortable, unlike what I had worried about. But I could feel that she was concerned about our actions.
Well, I’ll think about that later. The current problem was me.
“Here comes another one. Take him down with a kick like before.”
Lucia turned her gun towards the fallen target. The moment I saw the blue glow of mana at the tip of the barrel, a gunshot rang out and the target, who had been trying to get up, fell silent. He was probably dead. Baekyang blocked the attack of the assassin who tried to exploit Eleanor's opening. And the same situation repeated. The coordination was quite good. It seemed Lucia had trained them well.
“Sniper at 34° to my left, elevation 72°.”
Lucia aimed her gun at the fallen target again, but as soon as I spoke, she changed her aim and fired.
Bang!
The pistol emitted a blue flame. The bullet flew exactly where I specified, and the sniper hiding there fell. To be able to achieve such precision with a pistol, she was indeed a soldier the Empire boasted about. Considering that her specialty was rapid-fire, it was a bit chilling.
“Prince Oz, are your eyes better than a sniper’s?!”
“I can’t see as far as you, but I can see a wider area.”
I gave a perfunctory reply to Lucia’s theatrical tone and began drawing a formulaic inscription with my fingertips. I should have taken action the moment we first encountered the assassins, but it took too long to stabilize my consciousness due to the [Erosion Rate].
“Grab me.”
At my brief command, my companions gathered around me. Eleanor clung to my arm as if it was natural, Baekyang created an ice line and attached it to the hem of my clothes, as if reluctant to come any closer, and Lucia gently wrapped her tail around my wrist.
Intermediate Magic
[Mirage Fog]
Fog spread out from me. It obscured vision and distorted senses. Normally, the mage casting the spell would remain outside the fog, but there was no point if I was left alone outside and assassinated. But I had [Contemplation]. In this place, the only one who could find their way besides me would be a sniper with good eyesight. And the enemy sniper had just been killed by Lucia.
“Lucia, ready?”
“Anytime!”
“Then take your position in front of me and get ready.”
Understanding my intentions, Lucia held a pistol in each hand. It would be good to escape like this, but I couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be other attackers outside the range of the spell. In the worst case, we might be surrounded the moment the magic dissipated.
So, I would eliminate everyone gathered here.
“17°, 0°”
Bang!
“215°, 43°”
Bang!
“0°, 0°”
Bang!
Lucia’s pistols continuously emitted blue flames. The assassins started falling one by one to the bullets that flew in precise directions without a single miss. Within the shimmering mirage-like fog, only the loud gunshots and blue afterglow of the mana-infused bullets remained.