The Rune Clan (3)

We left the orphanage first. There was no way we could do this kind of work there.

"We need somewhere quiet. Do you know a place?"

"Follow me. I've got a hideout for the Korean branch."

Wrapped in Rebecca's Rune ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Barrier, I slipped out toward the outskirts of the city. I kept studying the barrier the entire way there, but mine still looked exactly the same.

Why can't I analyze this no matter how hard I look?

Unlike every other kind of magic, Rebecca's Rune Barrier refused to yield to analysis. More precisely, even if I broke it down and tried to reproduce it step for step, I couldn't get the same result. I had no idea what principle was at work, but something extraordinary was clearly sitting underneath it.

"Come to think of it, what about Su-hyun?"

A surviving member of the Rune Clan. If we left Cheon Su-hyun at Sunlight Orphanage as he was, he would live out an ordinary life as an ordinary person.

"We'll bring him with us. Even if he never received the training, he's still of the Rune Clan. I'll take my time getting close to him, then adopt him. And... I want to make him a true member of the clan."

There was real affection for the Rune Clan in Rebecca's voice. The word training snagged on something in my mind.

"What kind of training are we talking about? Something unique to the Rune Clan?"

That special Rune Barrier of hers was probably part of it.

"Well, simply put, you live inside a Rune Barrier from a young age. The Rune Clan has a special method that forcibly aligns your mana nature with the barrier itself."

"Oh..."

"If you keep focusing on the Rune Barrier for years, your mana circuits change completely. That's when you become a true member of the Rune Clan."

So the Rune Barrier I'd been using was only a half-measure. No wonder it got broken through so easily.

"Come inside."

Rebecca entered a gloomy building tucked into a forgotten corner of the city. After we passed through a dark corridor that looked like it might spit out a bat at any moment, a surprisingly bright living space opened up ahead.

"This room has a bed and a bathroom. Follow me."

She started peeling off her outer coat as she headed for the door. She clearly intended to get started right then and there.

"Hold on. Rebecca. Just a second."

"...Weren't you supposed to help me make a baby?"

Rebecca shot me a look of pure disappointment as I caught hold of her coat.

"There's something I need to check first. Let's go inside."

The way she frowned was a little intimidating, but I managed to get her into the room somehow. I sat her down at a table in a space that looked like a witch's laboratory, then took the seat across from her.

"Well... you were a member of Pandemic, right? There's something I need to confirm because of that."

"...I never killed anyone, though."

Rebecca seemed a little tense. I hadn't even been planning to ask whether she'd killed anyone.

"That's not what I meant. Maestro, the boss of Pandemic, has brainwashing magic. I need to check whether you've been brainwashed too."

This was why I hadn't accepted Rebecca right away. Maestro's mental domination. I couldn't trust anyone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who wasn't guaranteed to be on my side.

Hearing that, Rebecca let out a relieved little laugh.

"Ah, is that all? Don't worry. I know about Maestro's mind control."

"You do? Really?"

She knew about the mind control?

"Yeah. I activate my Rune Barrier every time I meet him. So that's not a problem."

"...Maestro's magic is pretty powerful. You never know, Rebecca."

"My Rune Barrier is strong too. It can block it completely. Even Maestro hasn't noticed that I haven't been brainwashed."

I tilted my head slightly as I watched her confident expression. It didn't match what I knew.

Rebecca was definitely under a strong brainwashing in the original.

In the source material, Rebecca clearly fell under Maestro's mental domination. There was a scene where the brainwashing broke right before she died. Of course, the Rebecca sitting in front of me wouldn't know that, so I'd been dancing around it. But she was so sure of herself that I was starting to get confused.

Has she not been brainwashed yet?

Maestro usually applied the brainwashing at the first meeting, so that seemed unlikely.

Then I replayed what Rebecca had just said.

She'd never killed anyone.

"Rebecca. You're saying you've never gone on a mission that involved killing people?"

"Of course not. I only provide the bare minimum of help. In exchange for Pandemic helping me track down the Rune Clan."

Rebecca said that, but...

No.

That couldn't be right. Rebecca's Rune Barrier had definitely been present during the Association's social mixer terrorist attack. She may not have killed anyone with her own hands, but there had clearly been casualties.

I studied her face. There wasn't a trace of shame on it.

"...Rebecca. Repeat after me."

"Hm? Repeat what?"

"Just say exactly what I say. And... brace yourself."

"Brace myself? I told you, I haven't been brainwashed."

I remembered the scene from the original — right before she died. The way she'd wept and regretted everything. After being overpowered by the protagonist and the heroines, Rebecca's brainwashing had only broken in her final moments.

She'd been a popular villain thanks to her looks, so the developers had given her a special ending scene. Back then I'd been playing a game, so I'd had no choice but to kill her. Things were different now.

Rebecca seemed a little annoyed, but she obediently went along with what I said.

"Repeat after me."

"Repeat after m—"

"Not that. Starting now."

"...I was just trying to lighten the mood. Don't get mad."

Sigh. As if this woman had any idea what I was feeling.

I slowly recited the Trigger Word I'd seen Maestro use in the original. When Maestro spoke it, the brainwashing would take hold. But when anyone else said it, it triggered intense pain and dragged back every memory from the time spent under his control. Once I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠discovered that, taking down Pandemic had gotten a lot easier.

"Tu Arma Maestro."

Rebecca didn't look any worse after saying it. Had she really not been brainwashed?

"...Are you okay?"

"Yeah, what even is this? Of course I'm fi— huh?"

Thud.

The strength drained from Rebecca's body and she tumbled out of her chair.

"Rebecca?!"

"W-wait... w-why? How... ngh, ugh. Uegh!"

I watched her empty the entire contents of her stomach, then looked away. The flood of memories was giving her a splitting headache, and she was remembering every crime she'd committed. Watching that felt like an invasion.

"Ugh, ugh... cough. cough."

Once Rebecca had recovered a little, I crossed the floor that had been wiped spotless at my signal and approached her.

"Rebecca. Are you okay?"

"...I thought I'd blocked it."

She muttered it with a face drained of all color.

"That's what makes Maestro so terrifying. You can't leave even the slightest gap. For now, let's find a way to undo the brainwashing together."

This trigger could only tell you whether someone had been brainwashed or not. Actually breaking it required a more complicated method.

"No. Now that I know, I can handle it."

Hoo. Rebecca took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and raised ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her mana. Soon, power gathered near her heart — a point so small it was barely visible. The mana that had been endlessly condensing into that tiny speck suddenly began to expand. It swept through every inch of her body without leaving a single gap, then formed a sphere outside her. Clinging to that sphere like grime were patches of black mana.

That nauseating mana. I recognized it immediately.

"Don't tell me that's..."

"It's Maestro's mana. I don't know when it wormed its way into my body, but now that I've found it, I can extract it with the Rune Barrier."

Rebecca gathered the black mana in midair and compressed it with a grinding, crunching sound. Plop — she dropped it into a beaker sitting nearby, and the mana dissolved away without a trace.

"...Haa. I talked such a big game, and all I did was make a fool of myself. Sorry your baby's mother is someone like this."

"It's fine."

So she'd already become "baby's mother," huh.

"A-and... it wasn't true. That I never killed anyone. I'm sorry I lied."

"...It's okay."

Morally speaking — hell, legally speaking — it was a problem. But I wasn't exactly living a clean life myself. Just as I had to win over the heroines, Rebecca had to find the Rune Clan. To her, that was as precious as life itself.

The silver lining was that we'd severed the brainwashing early. In the latter half of the original, Rebecca became a terrifying villain who killed people without a second thought. Breaking it before it could sink that deep was definitely a good thing.

"Don't take it too hard. It wasn't your fault, Rebecca."

"But... haa. What am I supposed to do now?"

She still couldn't seem to believe what she'd done.

She really is a good person at heart.

The fact that she hadn't tried to force things the moment she found out I wasn't of the Rune Clan... yeah. She was a good person.

It's a good thing we met this early.

If we'd met after she'd done even worse things, she might never have recovered from the guilt.

"We can go do volunteer work together later. Or I can introduce you to a good counselor. What matters is the revival of the Rune Clan, right?"

"...Yeah."

Rebecca looked like a decadent witch, but she was gentle on the inside. The reason she'd joined an evil organization like Pandemic was the revival of the Rune Clan. Her eyes went wide, as if she was surprised I'd said those words myself.

"Then... are we doing it now? You've already checked, right?"

"That'd be fine, but... I want a proper revival of the Rune Clan. You do too, right?"

"Of course. I'd stake my life on it."

"Then teach me the Rune Barrier."

"The Rune Barrier? What's that got to do with anything?"

"Think about it. The higher my Rune Barrier skill is, the more likely our child will inherit that talent, right?"

Whether it would actually work, I had no idea. But it was better than not trying. And improving my own Rune Barrier was a good thing regardless.

"...Is that how it works? But having even one child as soon as possible..."

"No. What if we end up with a child who can't use the Rune Barrier properly? I don't want that happening."

"That's... haa. Fine. We'll do it your way."

Rebecca didn't like it, but she met my gaze and eventually nodded. I was the one providing the sperm, so... what choice did she have?