Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Moonlight
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Clunk!
Adel appeared like the wind, then vanished like the wind.
“Wow... our little bro’s flirting game has leveled up.”
Violet marveled, recalling Adel from moments ago.
Beside her, Carnel was still whimpering “Hooeeng...” and trembling.
...Adel’s handsome guy aura was more lethal than expected.
“How does he steal souls so naturally, like breathing?”
Violet shook her head.
Carnel’s wide eyes, trembling shoulders, and steam rising from her head...
It was straight out of a comic—the “love-struck heroine” look.
“Huu... No way...”
Oblivious to her crumpled resignation letter scattered on the floor,
Carnel was lost in her own flights of fancy.
“E-eyes...! Th-that’s too much...!”
“Wow...”
Violet let out a sigh laced with admiration and disbelief.
Toppling one person required no fancy words or actions.
Just approach closely... and say one thing.
The result of that utterly simple, crystal-clear sentence was...
“Eek...!”
Pop...!
Carnel’s meltdown.
“Look at her face turning red like boiling water.”
Violet waved her hand in front of Carnel’s face, but...
No reaction.
Her mind seemed to have crossed into another world.
“Pfft.”
Violet chuckled softly as she picked up the scattered resignation letter from the floor...
The two torn pieces of paper.
“Hmm... It wasn’t approved anyway, so...”
Neru’s resignation letter hadn’t yet received Veronica’s signature.
In other words, it was just worthless scrap paper, with no legal effect.
“...That’s Neru’s resignation letter, right, senpai?”
Klaus sidled up to Violet.
He glanced at the two torn pieces and asked.
“Yeah. But it’s unapproved, just paper.”
“...Something must’ve happened.”
“...Yeah?”
At the same moment, both recalled Adel’s personality.
For Adel to take such direct action...
It couldn’t be for a simple reason—they felt certain of that.
Right then...
“What did you say!”
Carnel, who’d been in full “love-struck heroine” mode until a second ago...
Switched to “student council president” mode in the blink of an eye.
“What do you mean, something happened...!”
“No, just seems like it.”
“......”
Carnel froze.
Then, soon after, a “ding!” rang above her head, and a lightbulb flickered on.
“...What’re you doing, Carnel?”
Wordlessly, Carnel opened a desk drawer, pulled out a sheet of paper...
And infused it with her mana, drawing something onto it.
“......Done.”
What she’d created was...
“A magic circle?”
“Wow......”
A magic circle etched with an ominous number of circuits.
Klaus swallowed hard without realizing it.
He was hopeless at magic, but he could instinctively tell this circle was no ordinary thing.
Advanced... no, near top-tier—and she’d drawn it in under five seconds.
‘This is the wall between us...’
Klaus quietly sensed the insurmountable gap between himself and Carnel.
And then...
“...Here.”
The magic circle was naturally placed in his hand.
Klaus tilted his head blankly as he accepted the circle from Carnel.
“...Huh?”
At the center of the magic circle.
A small white circle pointed in one direction.
No matter how Klaus turned the paper, held it up, or flipped it...
That circle stubbornly pointed in only one direction.
“What is... this...?”
“From now on, by student council president authority, you’re conducting external activities.”
“...Pardon?”
“Go monitor what Adel’s up to and report back immediately!”
“???”
Klaus stared down at the paper in his hand, question marks popping up above his head.
“But what is this magic circle?”
“Location tracking.”
“Oh, location track—wait, what?”
“......”
And so...
Klaus left the cradle, clutching only the paper with the magic circle, utterly clueless.
“What the...”
When had things gotten so twisted?
He’d only been helping the student council out of pure hope for a good connection.
But...
Contrary to that pure intent, here he was, tailing Adel.
“Is this right...?”
Then, suddenly.
“...Huh?”
Klaus looked up at the sky.
The sunlight was still bright, clouds sparse...
But between them floated a strangely warped “moon.”
“The moon...?”
It felt eerie, like a massive eye embedded in the sky.
“......The moon’s red.”
Faced with that chilling sight, Klaus fell silent.
A cold wind brushed past.
A bizarre, grotesque scene he wanted to deny as reality...
It all felt like a dream.
***
“Did you hear...? The Puppets are active again...”
“Fuck... They went quiet for a month and now they’re stirring shit up...”
Gray Zone.
I walked through the darkness, my appearance disguised by the unique skill of 【Dreamweaver’s Mask】, 【Phantom Dream】.
One step, another...
‘The location is definitely...’
“Moonlight’s” base was in a place in the Gray Zone even mention of which was taboo.
If put into words, the underside of the Gray Zone.
The outer rim of outer rims...
No, the deepest end of that outer rim’s abyss.
In darkness untouched by sunlight... only a single moon illuminated it.
“That bastard Ryan lost both arms last time...”
“...At least he didn’t die.”
What grated more was something else.
The whispers of “Puppet” drifting from everywhere.
“Puppet” was the fake identity I’d created.
A disguised name born from my mistake.
But...
‘I’ve never operated under that name.’
I hadn’t even come to the Gray Zone in the past month...
So why was that name echoing through the Gray Zone?
Was someone impersonating it?
“If you see the mask... run no matter what.”
“A mask? Just that?”
“...In the Gray Zone, only one guy wears a mask.”
“True...”
Rumors fluttered through nameless alleys.
They believed “someone” who wasn’t me was “Puppet,” and they feared that existence.
“......”
“...Hey?”
The two men chatting stopped at once.
...As if they’d seen something they shouldn’t have, the color drained from their faces.
“M-mask...”
“W-what—!”
They trembled toward me with eyes full of terror.
...Something was off.
I was currently disguised by 【Phantom Dream】.
Not only my face, but even the mask should be hidden by the robe.
So then...
“R-run...!”
“M-mask! It’s the maskhhh!!”
I slowly turned my head.
And... there, a mask.
“......”
Someone cloaked entirely in black robes.
Wearing a white mask, staring at me.
Then.
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, he spun around and fled in the opposite direction.
‘......’
Swoosh.
I regulated my mana.
Threads of power wrapped around my body, and speed surged in an instant.
My gaze chased solely the back of the masked figure.
‘...Moonlight.’
The name “Puppet” publicly operated as a member of “Moonlight.”
Which meant... the one fleeing now was likely a Moonlight member too.
- Zzzzt...
A cold, heavy sensation.
【Leviathan】 gripped in my hand.
The sword’s weight was always the same... but today it felt especially heavy.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The distance closing bit by bit.
And...
“......”
A dead-end alley.
The masked figure hesitated before the unyielding wall, nowhere left to retreat.
Glancing left and right, but no paths.
Boom...!
The tip of 【Leviathan】 pierced the wall right beside his nape.
“......”
But... he neither flinched nor tried to flee.
Slowly...
He raised both hands, carefully... and removed the mask.
“It really is you...”
“......”
Stiffened ears.
Motionless tail.
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[ Beru ]
Attribute
: 「Fire」
Skills / Traits
: 【Stealth】
Unique Skill
: 【…】
Unique Traits
: 【Forced Contract】
: 【…】
Stats
: Vitality : 28 (B)
: Strength : 29 (B)
: Intellect : 23 (B)
: Mental Strength : 32 (A)
: Mana : 13 (D)
Talents
: 【…】
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“...Adel.”
[Uncle Beru?]
A familiar face.
A familiar voice.
...Neru’s father, Beru.
***
‘Why...’
Why, of all places, here... Uncle Beru...
More than that... the crescent moon emblem etched on the back of his hand.
‘No way...’
Moonlight.
The symbol of that damned organization.
That mark was on Uncle Beru’s hand too.
Clunk!
What looked like a dead-end wall.
But... the wall parted, and a familiar face peeked out from within.
“That’s... Beru?”
[?]
“Huh......? M-Mask sir...!?”
Caramel.
......The damn alchemist I thought had fled emerged from behind Beru.
‘...What the hell is this.’
Uncle Beru aside...
Now even Caramel?
And the same Moonlight emblem was carved on the back of her hand.
“Adel... listen well.”
Thud.
Uncle Beru’s heavy hand gripped my shoulder.
“Get out of here now.”
“......”
“Everyone here will try to kill you.”
“M-Mask sir, you have to run...!”
Their words were desperate... and urgent.
However...
Each time they spoke, the emblem on their hands glimmered.
And as that light intensified, their faces grew paler.
As if... defying the contract brought them pain.
“Moonlight... so, those damn villains are trying to kill you...”
Moonlight.
Where Neru vanished.
And now... where I had to step.
[Uncle]
“......”
[Where’s Neru?]
At my question... Uncle Beru shut his mouth.
He lowered his eyes, unable to speak.
Click.
I stored 【Leviathan】 back in my inventory.
And...
Pulling my robe fully over my head again...
I turned my steps toward the end of the abyss.
“...Adel.”
“......”
Uncle Beru called from behind.
His trembling hand reached out... but only grasped at empty air.
His lips moved, but no words followed.
[Uncle]
“......”
[You said to get along with Neru?]
He’d smiled brightly, saying his daughter had enrolled at the cradle...
And asked me to take good care of her if we met.
And that request...
I hadn’t forgotten it to this day.
***
I don’t know.
Why Uncle Beru is in Moonlight, why Caramel is there.
Not even how they made a contract with that place.
Really... I know nothing.
Whether that contract was by their own will, or a forced fate.
‘......’
Everything shrouded in fog.
There’s only one thing I can do.
Bring Neru back.
That’s it.
‘......’
I headed silently toward Moonlight.
...But it was strange.
Every path was blocked, or in ruins.
Among the debris...
Faint cat hairs drifted into view.
‘......’
Whoosh.
I concentrated mana at my fingertips.
《Abyss / Intermediate Magic》
「Engulfing Water Stream」
Dark shadows spread, and abyssal streams surged up.
Those streams swept away every piece of debris blocking the path.
“......”
In that instant, the wind stopped.
Looking up at the sky...
Beside the bright sun, a cold and forlorn moon hung.
And...
“......”
Before me stood a single cat.
[ 【Phantom Dream】 is dispelled. ]
Bloodstained white mask.
Twin daggers.
Unforgettable...
This damn cat.
“......”
Neru pulled out a whiteboard.
With clumsy, unpracticed strokes, she scrawled crooked letters.
[Go back]
At that sight, a laugh escaped me unwittingly.
Thud.
I tossed the whiteboard I held far away.
And...
I gave the greeting I couldn’t that day.
“Hello, Neru.”
“......”
Time had passed.
We’d drifted a bit apart from each other.
In that process, you lost your name.
And I... forgot how to call you.
“Long time no see?”
You’re tilting further away...
Becoming a voice I don’t recognize.
“......”
No reply.
Just cat-like wary eyes.
You, hiding emotions behind the expressionless mask.
Still, I know.
I have to know.
You... are listening.
“......”
Behind that mask, you’re hiding the name “Neru.”
“...Not gonna say hi back?”
My voice scattered in the bright sunlight and forlorn moonlight.
That’s fine.
Someday, until you hear it...
I’ll say it over and over.
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[ Neru ]
Favorability: 【■】
Status: 【Posi■tive】
■■□□!^@■■■#@-’/□□□■□ ■(?/10)
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