Chapter 202: Intercept.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 202: Intercept.
A few hours before Baek Seol went to see the Chairperson.
As she returned from completing her mission, the area around Baek Seol was crowded with people, as usual.
“Miss Baek Seol, another perfect mission completion today.”
“You’re not lacking at all, even compared to other regular heroes.”
“No, I’m still lacking compared to the regulars. It’s just that my talent happened to be a particularly good fit for this specific site.”
Wearing her manufactured mask, she greeted the senior heroes and officials in a way that wasn’t too subservient, yet didn’t come off as conceited.
In response, they would often try to bring up a new topic or scramble to make plans with her first, as if terrified the conversation might end.
Some sought to exploit her promising future, while others sent gazes dripping with blatant desire, but Baek Seol didn’t find them particularly unpleasant.
In the first place, she didn’t perceive them as beings equal to herself.
However, whenever they flattered her or sent suggestive looks, a small question would cross her mind.
Seeing this, it doesn’t seem like my charm has faded or my face has suddenly turned ugly, right?
Objectively speaking, I think I have a rather mystical and beautiful appearance. So why on earth is my cute junior like that?
While politely declining their offers and hurrying her return, one part of her mind was occupied with the cute junior who would be at the sea by now.
The cute junior who always rejected and pushed her away with a blunt attitude.
Lately, whenever she thought of something, she found herself associating it with him more and more.
To the point where she, who had never taken much interest in those around her, was clearly aware of it herself.
“Hmm.”
She liked that cat-like aspect of her wary junior, but in truth, she couldn’t understand it.
Usually, boys his age would blush just by her approaching them, and if she tried to treat them with even a hint of friendliness, most of them were already imagining having two children with her in their heads.
And there were even more who imagined the process of making those children.
Yet, when she asked if she could join him on his trip to the sea, all her junior had to say was:
— I think you’d just consider it modesty if I declined politely, so would it be okay if I rejected you a bit harshly? If possible, I’d like you to feel a bit hurt.
My, how adorable.
Actually, she hadn’t even heard the news of him going to the sea from the boy himself.
She only found out because a red-haired maid she’d recently become acquainted with had teabagged her, saying, “Oh my, were you not invited? Even though I am but a servant, I plan to accompany him.”
“He doesn’t act like that toward others. Why is he so sharp only with me?”
And aside from him being cute, why did she keep thinking about him?
While lost in these thoughts, Baek Seol returned to the Academy and was about to head to the Chairperson’s office to check the report she had prepared in advance.
Yes.
That was, until a small explosion suddenly occurred in the professor’s wing right before her eyes.
Terrorism? Or had an experiment failed?
Without hesitation, Baek Seol ran toward the professor’s wing.
It wasn’t for rescue, but for information gathering. Entering a scene alone was dangerous, but blindly submitting a report without clear information was equally unhelpful. She intended to gather at least the minimum amount of intel.
“Khah…!”
Fortunately, Baek Seol immediately found someone who could provide a testimony.
Professor Park A-ram, who looked like she had been caught in the explosion, was there.
Well, to move efficiently, it seemed right to perform the rescue first and then submit the report.
* * *
When Park A-ram regained consciousness, she looked around blankly for a moment, but soon realized her situation and pushed herself up.
It was a familiar place.
The Chairperson’s office of Leilan Academy.
She seemed to have narrowly escaped that monster, but it wasn’t time to relax yet.
The temporary measures she had put in place wouldn’t mean much to that monster.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
“Yeah. Thanks for adding to my workload when I already have so much to do. Now, shall I hear Professor Park A-ram’s excuse? Why did you blow up the professor’s wing again?”
“Ah, that… Leilan. Calm down and listen. This is no time for this. We need to gather our forces as quickly as possible, right now.”
“…What’s going on?”
The two had been friends for a long time.
Leilan could distinguish between a joke and a serious matter, so at this point, she upgraded the incident from a mere nuisance to one requiring significant caution.
“How should I put this? Actually, you know what I’ve been doing while cooped up at home lately, right?”
“…Right? Didn’t you say you were conducting experiments?”
“Ah, yeah. Something like that. But there was a small mistake. No, this isn’t the time. A damn big problem has cropped up.”
“So, just how big…”
“A calamity.”
“…What?”
“If we’re just looking at specs, a villain close to Calamity-class… no, a monster is about to appear.”
Leilan chewed on her words for a moment and then looked into her eyes.
Regrettably, since she couldn’t feel even a hint of falsehood, it meant that unless one of them had gone mad, everything she said was true.
“…Just what on earth happened?”
Even as she listened to the explanation, Leilan’s hands busily began to activate the emergency contact network.
* * *
“Wow, the day has finally come where I’ve gathered all of this.”
A long, long time ago.
In another world, she had been a demon and a calamity known as the Platinum Witch, committing all sorts of atrocities.
What she loved were screams and despair.
What she hated was everything contrary to that.
She couldn’t accept a miserable life where she couldn’t utilize her innate talent, and she couldn’t stand being despised for taking the hand of a devil.
Afterward, she couldn’t forgive the devil who had deceived and toyed with her, and after she had seized an opening to devour the devil, she hated the humans who tried to judge her as they pleased.
In short, she had been an immature brat.
She was the kind of being who thought it was okay to commit atrocities as long as she used her innate misfortune as a shield.
“Though that’s no longer the case.”
Well, her memories were full of other embarrassing and cursed things after that, but to sum up the result, she was eventually subjugated.
Since she had acquired immortality using a curse, she didn’t die, but her body was sealed, and she was destined to suffer for eternity.
She thought that was the end of it, but for some reason, those who defeated her didn’t take all her power and even told her how to break the seal.
Was it because there were more evil people among those she killed than good ones, and because many lives were saved because she disposed of the devil?
They wanted to see the good in her, despite how tainted she was. The story goes that she lived on, trying to break the seal while scoffing that they would regret it someday.
It gets too complicated to explain everything, so to put it simply: after that, their world was destroyed by a calamity, and she ended up flying to this world through the space magic she had been independently researching.
And well, it’s a cliché story, but she was moved by seeing people living together despite the hardships, and by the person who reached out to her in that situation, so she changed her ways.
“…Ah, um. The flashback was a bit too long.”
Anyway, with this, all the materials needed to break the seal were gathered.
The Sealing Stone where her true body was imprisoned.
The heart of a Lord-class Dragon obtained ten years ago while participating in a subjugation mission with Leilan.
One hundred letters received from people thanking her.
A pure mana crystal created without borrowing the power of a devil.
And finally, the Philosopher’s Stone, free from any corrupting energy, which she had barely managed to get her hands on.
“Ah, there was one more thing.”
The feeling of truly loving and cherishing someone.
It was a somewhat ambiguous condition, but those who sealed her had said that without this, she wouldn’t be able to reunite with her body even if she fulfilled all the other requirements.
“Haha, I’m not a child. There’s no rule saying that the feeling of loving someone has to be limited to romantic affection between a man and a woman, right?”
She knew now.
That a void could be filled faster than expected just by being loved and loving someone, and how precious and miraculous a connection could be.
So, she could say her qualifications were sufficient.
With that, she placed the treasures in their designated positions, put the Sealing Stone in the center, and concentrated her energy.
She wanted to smash it with force right then and there, but she couldn’t.
This sealing formula was quite complex and bizarre; if she tried to break the seal by force like that, it would cause problems for her true body.
It seemed like the unsealing would take a full few days, but she had waited this long; it wasn’t something she couldn’t endure now.
One day passed, then two, and she succeeded in breaking the seal.
Ah, ahhh.
Her long-missed original form was there.
A body with curves in all the right places, incomparable to her current flat-chested self! Her beautiful platinum hair, which was like her trademark!
And aside from those, to pick out a minor point—an overwhelming amount of mana!
It truly had been a long and sorrowful time of contempt and persecution.
Those damn brats. The cadets. Even her friends Leilan and Cathy had sent her strange looks, treating her like a child.
“Haha, that won’t happen anymore.”
She could feel it—the vast power.
It had been preserved right there, waiting for its master.
“Jokes aside, with this much, I should be able to hold my own even against a Calamity-class.”
According to the official documents, a total of five Calamity-class Villains had escaped.
She didn’t think she could catch them all by herself, but there was no denying she would be a huge help.
Now then, it’s time to become one! Main body!
— The soul cannot be connected as the conditions have not been met.
“…Huh?”
What? What did you say? Conditions?
And as if by magic, the mana of the main body moved, and a recorded video began to play before her eyes.
— Haha! It looks like you tried to pass using a trick, but not a chance!
It was a nostalgic face.
The man who was called a Hero at the time, and the man who became the calamity that destroyed their world, was there.
— Ah, just in case, I’m telling you this video is a recording, so I can’t answer you! And it’ll be useless even if you come looking for the real me! This was a decision made after consulting with my comrades! I’m not allowed to release you on my own!
I do miss you. It would have been better if you and your comrades were just a little less naive.
— Anyway, even if you’ve broken the seal, I’ve made it so you can’t merge unless you have a precious person you truly love in a romantic sense!
…No, but what kind of petty harassment is this? Are you my father or something?
— We’re all couples, and I was worried you’d never get married, so I’m looking out for you! Pfft-hahaha.
Ah, you just really wanted to mock me, didn’t you? Dammit. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have run away back then; I should have blasted a spell right into your face.
— And, it’s also because I want to see proof that you’re not lonely anymore. If you’re not alone, even a crappy world becomes a bit more worth living in.
“…Ah, yeah. Well, it’s touching and all, but now is not the time. Zeke. I’m really in a hurry. Stop joking and give me my body back already.”
— Ah, and in case you think this is a joke, let me add: it’s not a joke. You really have to show yourself kissing the person you like in front of it to pass.
“…What? Have you lost your mind?”
— Don’t worry. I’ve made sure it’s preserved using the mana you have, so it won’t rot or break or anything!
In our world, having a stuffed person at home wouldn’t raise suspicions, but in the world I live in now, if I had something like that, I’d get a ‘Model Criminal’ award!
I did end up siding with a villain organization, but I didn’t want to be treated like a criminal for something like this.
— You’re moved by my amazing thoughtfulness, aren’t you?
The gladness she felt at seeing him after a long time and the sympathy she felt as someone who witnessed his end had already vanished.
“You oblivious man! That’s why you got NTR’d at the end and destroyed the world! You moron!”
— Haha, you’re probably saying something mean to me, but I’m a video, so I can’t hear you!
…Is this guy actually not a video?
— Then, come back next time with a boyfriend! Witch!
“Aaaaagh!!! Stop bullshitting! Give me back my body!!!!”
She screamed at the vanishing image, but of course, he didn’t return.
If this story had proceeded without anyone’s intervention, it would have ended as a mere minor incident.
However, the evil god intervenes here.
To prepare a gift for him at the beach, while ensuring that another trial would greet him once he overcame the first.
All for a gift filled with malice.
“Eh?”
[The Authority of the Creator intervenes to alter the information.]
It was the beginning of a new incident.