Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: No Lies, Probably
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I didn't lie. Probably
—Stab!!
A dark alleyway. The sound of something being stabbed echoes through. Not just once. Again and again.
—Stab!!
There was an interval. The stabbing sounds continued, but with pauses. As if he was doing something in between before stabbing again.
"Hehe."
His face wasn't clearly visible. But one thing was certain. He was a man. Not particularly large in build.
Gaunt, nothing but bones. Yet the aura emanating from him was far from ordinary.
—Stab!!!
Not the mana of an ordinary person, but ominous demonic energy.
The man was exuding it. Blood flowed with every stab. And with the flowing blood, the man drew.
An act one could call art if asked.
What the man drew was simple.
A single circle. A star filling it. Letters written inside. Strange characters incomprehensible to modern people.
Yet he stabbed excitedly, stabbed again, writing the letters in blood.
"Hehe. The, the offering is flesh. The tribute, the sacrifice is the contract's sy, symbol..."
The man's demonic energy grew stronger as he muttered. But he didn't stop.
"Drink the blood, take the flesh. Ful, fulfill the con, contract."
The hexagram glowed. Dazzlingly. An ominous light swallowed the man.
And when the light faded—
Nothing happened. No. Something did.
The corpse he had been stabbing vanished. That was it.
Nothing happened to him. As if it were the most natural thing, the man got up and dragged the piled-up corpses along.
"The, the rest I'll do back ho, home~"
Drag, drag—
A humming tune echoed through the alley.
"This is as far as it goes."
Julia, who had been pressing her palm to the ground, pulled it away. Then she looked around with tired eyes.
What she saw was crime scene tape marked "No Entry." And her assistant.
"I'm so tired."
"Get some sleep."
"...I did."
She really did. Three hours, but sleep is sleep. Someone said people only need three hours a day.
"You'll die like that."
"If I die, avenge me with Lee Seong-hoon. This is all because of him."
It was because of what he said. It was true, so the assistant nodded. Though he had no intention of avenging her.
"Over twenty cases already. We know all the locations, so why are we twiddling our thumbs?!"
"Because there are too many. The Anti-Warlock Squad's response team will arrive by tomorrow. Let's go home and rest."
"No."
With that, Julia walked off. Naturally toward another incident site.
"We need to eliminate even one variable."
Julia muttered that she wouldn't let those warlock bastards get away with it.
"Hmm... no. Shit... not that either. Fuck... that's even worse. How do I even describe this feeling?"
It's frustrating. So frustrating. Trying to express this emotion in words even Leviathan could hear without issue is endless.
But thinking about it pisses me off? She's by my side anyway, so it'll be weird regardless. Does it matter?
"This sucks."
Thwack—!!
Something flew and smacked my head. The damn blonde glaring from beside me put her finger to her lips, making a "shhh" sound.
What does she want?
Ignore.
Time to do what I need to. I picked up my pen and rolled it diligently. I had no interest in the lecture up front about "[The Social Impact of Heroes]" or whatever.
Sure, midterms with 100% note-taking are coming up soon, but Isia and Sophia will organize the notes anyway. Why bother?
Yes. No need. So I kept rolling the pen.
Since rolling the pen is my task, anyone watching would think I'm focused on class.
"Focus on the class."
"Fuck off."
Except for the blonde next to me.
What I'm doing now is rune engraving. Not just the explosion runes I used before, but others too.
Of course, for non-neutral attributes like explosion, I only have the attribute mana I recently acquired.
Rune magic was fascinating. With 「Rune Magic (A)」, the incantation spells I knew automatically translated into runes.
Thanks to that, I'm churning them out at incredible speed. Why am I doing this?
"Damn Rosarinne."
Because of her. This woman decided on her own to seal off Justitia—
Whoosh.
This time I dodged the flying paper wad. I'm growing too.
"Don't dodge!!"
"Don't throw."
"Don't curse then. I'm teaching you something good. Right?"
"She's sleeping?"
Huh? I waved the bracelet on my right hand at Raphael, who made a weird noise.
If she weren't asleep, she'd repeat everything I say like "[Fuck?]" "[Damn?]" But she didn't.
So she's asleep.
"No. Wait. If that's the case... that's not it!! What if she wakes up?!"
"Handle it yourself. And the one glaring at you from the podium will handle herself."
"Ah."
I kept scribbling with my pen, hearing Raphael's strangled cry.
To finish what I was saying, Rosarinne is trying to cut off Justitia from the outside on her own whim.
She's an archmage. If she says she'll do it, she will. Piercing her barrier magic is nearly impossible without my eyes.
More than that, eliminating potential incident sites before they happen is awe-inspiring. Her whole mindset is different.
Of course, Justitia becomes safe internally, and incidents won't occur, so thanks. But there's a problem.
It's Julia, whom I met at the start of the semester. If she'd listened to my advice, she'd be in the midst of a sweep operation by now.
I planned to go scoop up the leftovers once it was on the news with her face plastered everywhere.
But after exams, it's lockdown from the outside. No choice then.
So I have to go before it seals off. Plenty to pick up there.
Thus, I'll diligently make runes.
I shoved the completed runes into my [Inventory] and opened my mouth.
"Benia. Infuse mana into the runes."
"Just that much. We're going to catch warlocks, right?"
I won't catch them, but we're heading where warlocks are. So I didn't lie?
"I won't let Lee Seong-hoon get away with this."
I decided to ignore Raphael pouting and muttering.
And so the weekend arrived. Next week are exams, but that's not important.
After exams, grabbing items from Isiu and Luci's treasure trove is safest. But who knows when.
Need to go before it closes, but time's too tight.
So today it is, striking while the iron is hot.
Heading to a dangerous place, should I bring the maids? But considering [Reaper's Robe] capacity, just Raphael and me makes sense.
Like a stealth strike team: grab the goods quick and bounce.
"Hm hm~ What's got you heading there? Levatein, hurry and get ready!!"
I left the excitedly bouncing Raphael and Levatein alone. Ignorance is bliss.
Think of it as a picnic.
Especially Levatein seemed thrilled. When Raphael changed into a white dress, she transformed into the exact same outfit.
Yelling "Couple look~!!" so excitedly. Now I feel kinda bad.
"Lachesis."
"I didn't say a word? I'm innocent? They're hyped on their own misunderstanding?"
No way. Can't deal with the aftermath. I know what happens when you pour cold water on excited kids like that.
They'll sulk all day without a word.
What if Levatein sulks and doesn't listen in that dangerous place?
"Forgiveness is easier than permission."
As Lachesis clicked her tongue, the prepared Raphael and Levatein approached, arms outstretched. I had no choice but to hug them.
Normally I wouldn't. But to rack up points before any sulking later.
"Levatein."
"Only to places without people."
I wrapped the Reaper's Robe around us, looking at the beaming Levatein. Raphael slipped in naturally.
"But what are we doing there?"
"First, stores and food. Then a separate stop."
"Ehhh? Gourmet spots, right?! Bet there are tons!!"
Sure, whatever. I half-heartedly responded to Raphael counting on her fingers what she wanted to eat and kept walking.
Hearing Lachesis's [Get out here, nya.], we emerged onto a sparsely populated path.
I warned them to turn into bracelets if anyone appeared and headed for the warp gate.
"Big sale today."
Sophia walked, looking at the flyer in her hand.
Lately, she'd been cooking a lot, so collecting supermarket flyers had become habit.
Student stipends from Justitia were plenty, but more money is always better.
That's why she bought discounted goods like this.
"I wonder what he'll like. He seemed to love meat last time."
Sophia counted on her fingers the foods Lee Seong-hoon had enjoyed. Thinking of him eating her cooking deliciously made her lips curve up for some reason.
—It's delicious. Really good.
—So good I want to eat it for every meal.
She'd always liked cooking, but hearing that made her love it more.
Not empty words; whenever she brought lunch, he always finished it all.
Korean food was tricky for her—she always slightly burned it and messed up the seasoning—but he ate it saying it was good.
Sophia was happy about that. So she practiced daily, cutting her fingers. They healed right away, no scars.
'Is packing for the weekend too much?'
Maybe. As she thought about practicing just for herself today, something caught her eye.
A path with few people. Sophia's favorite, since she didn't like crowds. No acquaintances, no forced smiles.
There was someone there. Sophia reflexively hid in the bushes and peeked out.
"Huh?"
Her mind blanked. The scene before her was that shocking.
Lee Seong-hoon.
Black hair, black eyes. Arguing with the woman beside him as he walked. But that wasn't the issue.
It was unmistakably him. The problem wasn't him.
The problem was clinging to his body. A child.
Looking about 5 to 8 years old.
Sophia rubbed her eyes. Rubbed hard. Until her vision blurred, but it recovered instantly.
Even with recovered eyes, the child was there.
Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Features that promised beauty even at that young age.
'No way?'
It couldn't be. Sophia desperately denied the rising feeling in her chest.
But the voices ignored her denial.
—Daddy!! Thirsty!!
—Jesus. Thirsty what? Ask Raphael.
—Daddy's tall, it's fun~
—She says so. I'll walk with Lachesis~
—Agh. This time only. No next.
"..."
Sophia's eyes trembled. The flyer she held had long flown away in the wind.
For some reason, fury boiled in her heart, her teeth grinding audibly.
But Sophia calmly followed behind them.