Escape (3)

“Your soul’s been kidnapped, hasn’t it?”

Merlin’s gaze bored straight through me.

…Insane.

This wasn’t simple bluffing. The words soul and kidnapped made the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠implication brutally clear.

Possession.

Merlin was certain I was a possessor. If that was the case, did she also know I had regressed? Did she know this world was inside a game? And beyond that… did she know about the System?

I couldn’t read her intentions. If she deliberately kept silent about the Holy Relic’s location, what then? The fine hairs on my skin stood on end. Cold sweat beaded and trickled down my back.

“Your reaction tells me I’m right.”

Merlin let out a soft laugh and spun on her heel.

“Merlin Trivia. I wondered how you knew a name I erased long ago… So you really aren’t a human of this world? Impressive. You even managed to find your way here.”

“…”

“There’s no need to be so wary. I won’t turn hostile toward you right this moment.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to trust that?”

“How, you ask?”

With a heavy thud, Merlin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dropped onto the sofa in the corner.

“You already know, don’t you? In this empire, there isn’t a single person who can help you besides me.”

She was right. The only path to information on the Holy Relic ran exclusively through Merlin.

“You said you were looking for the Holy Relic?”

“…That’s right.”

“How curious. I wonder what possible reason someone from another world could have for seeking a Holy Relic?”

“…”

“Wealth and glory to last a lifetime? Overwhelming martial power? Or if not that…”

A sly chuckle slipped from her lips. Then her eyes cooled into a chilling stare.

“You want to tear dimensions apart.”

The temperature inside the shop plunged, freezing the air. Merlin lowered her eyelids halfway and added in a languid tone, “You’re planning to rip open a dimension and return to your original world.”

Tear dimensions apart. The raw power of those words made my head spin and my heart hammer. I renewed my mental defenses against Merlin and spoke.

“It almost sounds like you’re saying that with a Holy Relic, tearing open a dimension is actually possible.”

“You heard correctly. That is exactly what I meant.”

“How can you be sure I’ll return to my own body? For all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we know, I could fall into some completely random world.”

At Merlin’s gesture, a chair rose helplessly into the air. It drifted for a moment before dropping with a dull thud right in front of my feet. She jerked her chin, clearly telling me to sit.

I kept my eyes locked on her and slowly lowered myself onto the chair.

“You don’t need to worry about that. There is only one dimension a kidnapped soul can cross into.”

“Only one?”

“Yes. Where else would a lost soul end up? Only the original world you so desperately long to return to—the one you lived in before you were taken.”

Ah. So I really could go back.

The moment that faint hope hardened into certainty, a sigh of relief escaped me on its own.

“Where is the Holy Relic?”

“Well now. If you want to buy information, you’ll have to offer suitable compensation, won’t you?”

“…Stop talking in circles and tell me what you want.”

When I pressed her urgently, the corners of Merlin’s eyes curved in amusement.

“There’s only one thing I desire.”

“What is it?”

“In the distant future, when you finally succeed in activating the Holy Relic and cross dimensions—”

“That moment?”

“Take me with you. To the world you came from.”

“…Have you lost your mind?”

I stood there blinking stupidly. Merlin had just told me to take her to the world I came from.

…Is she actually crazy?

The absurdity of it forced a hollow laugh out of me. The suspicion rising in my throat was too strong to swallow, so I asked her outright. Why did she want to leave this world?

Her answer was curt.

“You don’t need to know.”

It was a flat refusal. Merlin pressed me for a decision—whether I would proceed with the deal or throw it away to dig into her irrelevant past.

There was nothing to ponder. My goal had never changed, not once, from the beginning until now.

“…Fine. We have a deal.”

“An excellent choice. Then…”

At Merlin’s gesture, documents, a quill, and holy water flew over in sequence. The quill danced across the hovering paper. Then highly compressed mana intertwined with divine power, and a few drops of holy water fell. A faint flash of light swallowed the entire shop.

“Check it.”

A Geas. And of the highest grade, at that. What the hell had I just witnessed? This kind of thing shouldn’t be created so casually.

“…Huh.”

I skimmed the contract. Merlin would give complete cooperation while I secured the Holy Relic, and I would “permit” her to accompany me when crossing the dimensional gate. There were minor clauses ensuring she would cause no problems in the new world. It even stated she would never harm me in any way, and she had boldly offered her own soul as collateral.

It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flawless, without a single loophole. In fact, it felt almost excessively considerate of me.

I still had my doubts, but a highest-grade Geas was an absolute oath that not even transcendent beings could defy. Since it was engraved on the soul, the contract would remain intact even after crossing dimensions. Above all, the setting book had clearly labeled Merlin Trivia as a good character, not a villain.

I swallowed a sigh and signed.

A moment later, I felt my body lurch as a powerful gust tore through the room. The wind whipped everything inside the shop before dying down just as suddenly. When I lifted my head, brushing stray hair from my face, Merlin’s bright smile stabbed into my eyes like a nail.

“The Holy Relic is inside the Imperial Palace.”

The unexpected information left my mouth hanging open. To think the Holy Relic was hidden inside the Imperial Palace where the imperial family resided. How on earth was I supposed to slip past that iron-tight security and infiltrate the palace interior?

My mind was still reeling from how much more complicated things had become when her next words yanked me back.

“Princess Rudine Eckhart.”

The elegant voice ringing in my ears snapped me to attention.

“The Rosario she wears around her neck. That is the Holy Relic you’re looking for.”

Rudine Eckhart. A woman of the highest noble bloodline, the very incarnation of beauty. And one of the main heroine candidates in the game.

A fragment of memory flashed through my mind.

The Rosario—an Unique-grade artifact passed down through generations to the imperial princesses. And above all else—

—The Rosario resonates with the wearer’s mana, so once equipped, it cannot be removed by ordinary means.

—As far as I remember, it’s impossible to take off unless the wearer dies.

I swallowed the nausea rising in my throat.

Fuck.

The difficulty, already sky-high, had just doubled in an instant.

“How the hell am I supposed to get it?”

When I asked with a stunned expression, Merlin answered as if it were nothing special.

“Kidnap the princess and kill her. Simple, right?”

A giant question mark floated through my head.

Fuck. Yeah, real simple.

Rudine Eckhart also hated Kyle Winfred, as befitting her position as a main heroine candidate. Out of all of them, Rudine was the craziest one, rivaling even Luna. She had a completely different personality beneath her elegant mask—two-faced to the core. Just remembering how she had acted in the previous round made my teeth clench.

I nearly died because of that woman more times than I can count.

She acted like a gentle lamb, then stabbed you in the back the moment it mattered, as if she had become a completely different person. Thanks to her setting of possessing exceptionally high intelligence, she was a master of schemes, and her emotions never fluctuated in the slightest. Because of that, I had fallen for her tricks and nearly died more than five times before even completing the scenario progress.

And now she was telling me to kidnap and kill that woman?

I asked Merlin in a reluctant voice.

“Does she really have to die?”

“Obviously.”

Her decisive answer made me feel faint already.

“Don’t worry about your identity. I have disguise artifacts, so it won’t be that difficult.”

“…That’s the only good news I’ve heard so far.”

Merlin brushed dust off her collar and stood up. That was when it happened.

The increase was no joke. This wasn’t the kind of jump I could dismiss as the System simply screwing with me.

A moment later.

My eyes twitched violently. Isabelle and Luna. All their bizarre, unpredictable actions flashed through my mind like a film reel.

So it was real…

I had roughly guessed it, but I hadn’t wanted to admit it. No, I had simply wanted to ignore it completely. Yet the words floating in the air dangled right in front of my eyes as if taunting me. The System’s malice made my clenched fists tremble with rage.

It was horrific. Every single part of this situation.

A single sheet of paper drifted down from the air and landed in front of me. I bent down and picked up the fallen document to read its contents.

“Ah, that.”

Merlin tilted her head, then spoke as if something had just occurred to her.

“Luna Winfred and Isabelle Ustia.”

“…”

“Now that I think about it, they were your sister and fiancée, weren’t they?”

“Ah.”

“I heard the two of them are coming to the Imperial Capital together to attend Princess Rudine Eckhart’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

Fuck.

Should I just destroy this worthless world?