59. Dinner Party (6)
59. Dinner Party (6)
- 1 -
"This is pretty."
"Oh my, it will suit you wonderfully, madam."
"Hehe. Thank you."
Baroness Hayley Shum Gremit, a noble of the Kingdom of Haisen, had never once in her life thought she was unlucky.
Though her family was an ordinary viscounty, she hadn't taken after her parents; blessed with fairly decent looks, she even had a youthful appearance.
On top of that, the man she married was a baron who held a stable territory and fortress near the royal capital, so even before the current situation, she had lived her whole life without knowing financial hardship.
'Mm. It's definitely a happy life.'
A husband she didn't love, but one toward whom she had enough familial loyalty that he never once caused a scandal.
And from that husband, a lovely daughter and a cute son who resembled her.
From wealth to family, she was living a life she was reasonably satisfied with.
"I'll handle payment as usual, so send the items I've chosen to the manor."
"Whatever the madam says, it's done without question!"
"Hehe."
Moreover, she was even enjoying luxuries and pleasures beyond those of other noblewomen her age.
To what extent? Enough that all her acquaintances, aside from her family, always envied and wondered about the secret source of her funds.
Never once imagining it was due to a large, dark hand on the continent.
'No matter how I think about it, seizing that opportunity back then was a fortune sent from heaven.'
The source of those funds was the Midas Dark Commerce Guild—a gathering of black market merchants operating covertly across the continent.
Alongside her husband, she had been working as an external collaborator for the guild for several years now, playing the role of attracting suitable clients and sales channels.
She considered it a heaven-sent opportunity.
Because while the dark merchant guild was meticulous in managing its people, it was an organization that bought loyalty by generously bestowing rewards upon those who passed its high standards.
Together with her husband Gerald, she assisted the organization and in return received wealth and military power beyond what she gave—enough to expand the fortresses under her jurisdiction from one to two.
'There were some dangerous moments, but it's worth it since I can live as richly as a count.'
She also thought that the position she held was just right for her.
Not high enough to access the guild's deepest secrets, but enough to share in some of the lesser ones—and that wealth.
Though there were times when her pride was bruised, it was never all that dangerous.
'Now if I can just lay low and live quietly, and send the children off to the academy...'
If someone who could truly read fortunes had been bound to her by fate, they likely would have advised her that as 'one carrying great fortune,' she must never consider crossing paths with organizations as vast as Midas—but the present her had no way of knowing that.
In truth, it was already far too late.
Because behind her back, a shadow fixated on a single jewel clutched in an enormous black hand had begun to lurk.
"Madam. We're being followed."
When she heard this upon leaving the social club, she didn't think it was such a big deal.
"The streets were strangely empty. It's probably someone sent by that side."
"I'll check it out."
"As always, I leave it to you."
She believed that the escorts assigned by Midas—those who always possessed trustworthy combat strength—would handle it as they always did.
Killing those who could be killed on the spot, and dealing with those who couldn't through a transaction.
Peoeok!!
- Kkuaaak!!
Kwajik!
- S-save, save me...!!
"Yo-Yohan...? Gemini...?"
But that thought was shattered in an instant.
The screams that rang out as soon as her escorts strode confidently into the shadows of the alley, leaving her behind.
"Wh-what is this...?"
Those screams were so horrific she even considered they might be coming from one of the two.
Either a prisoner who had crawled out of hell, or the demon executing that prisoner.
Of course, it was closer to the former, but it was neither.
"You possess guards ill-fitting for your station, child of man."
Jiiiik... Jiiiik...
Despite being spoken in a voice that could almost be called somewhat cute, it was delivered with an eerily low resonance and a tone that emphasized composure.
And alongside it came the sound of something heavy scraping against the floor.
"You should have had the awareness, when guards were placed upon you, that you must behave with caution in equal measure. Your failure to do so has brought about today's calamity."
A form gradually revealed itself from the darkness—skin so pale it seemed ghastly white, and jet-black hair that beautifully adorned that face.
Amid them, mysteriously glowing violet eyes.
What she wore about her body was nobility; what followed at her feet was darkness and death.
"You'll consider that you share a portion of the blame for the death these men are about to meet."
When she flicked her finger, the clusters of round things that had been dragged along by an intangible force, their 'stems' seized, were tossed aside carelessly.
At Hayley's feet.
Cheolpeok! Kung!
"Hi, hik...!"
What had at first seemed merely round hurtled toward her with a hideous presence, dragging their heavy forms through the dim light of the back alley.
Hayley realized a moment too late that they were corpses.
Only after the fragments splattered from them upon violently striking the ground stuck stickily to her cheek, together with the identity of the corpses' owners.
"Sa... save mmph!!"
She too was someone familiar with dark work.
The moment she grasped the situation, she didn't merely freeze on the spot but tried to alert others to her presence by shouting.
But in truth, the moment she had trusted her escorts and not moved from that spot, it was already over.
"Hihk...!!"
Before she knew it, a cold body had twisted both her hands behind her back with one hand and pressed a dagger to her throat.
Hayley struggled in terror at the sight of the eerily pale blade visible to her eye and the cold white-bone body beyond it, but her slender body couldn't escape an inch.
Though she herself was a high-grade archer, it was a body that had long since stopped engaging in direct combat.
『Trait - ... Rusted Senses, Long-Rested Body』
Libertas's eyes narrowed as she examined the deplorable trait window of the new offering, already signaling the opponent's submission.
The negative trait, severe enough to receive a 'high-grade' classification, was fragmented evidence of just how long the subject had lived a dissolute life.
『Attributes - ... Resistance 3』
Moreover, the Resistance stat, even weaker than Sonia's when her body was completely ruined, supported that judgment.
"... Let her go. Shadow Blade."
And she was a demon who utterly despised dissoluteness that did not match one's station.
Pasasak - !
A blade emerged from the shadows and surged toward Hayley's throat.
Pasasak - !
"Huek!"
Hayley, who had unconsciously sagged the moment Evangeline let her go, straightened up with a grotesque scream when she saw the blade already encroaching near her throat.
Fortunately, the blade did not behead her immediately.
It merely refrained from doing so. Nothing more.
"Heueuk...!!"
The blades that had risen from the shadows stopped precisely near her body.
In positions where, if she were to let her guard down even slightly, she would instantly taste pain and blood.
"S-save... save me...!"
Joreureureu...
Though it could not be good for her long-term lumbar health, Hayley froze rigidly in a posture necessary to avoid the blades.
"Hayley."
"H-how... do you know my name...?"
Libertas, who glanced sidelong at the stream of water flowing down between her legs, approached her nonchalantly and spoke.
"You happen to possess information not befitting your station, child of man."
"Wh-what do you mean...?"
"A dungeon core. I hear you know its location."
"How... did... that..."
It was an obvious outcome that Hayley's eyes flew wide open in shock upon hearing that business.
Because in her view, it was a story she thought she had hidden well. In truth, when dealing with 'humans,' that was true enough.
It was just that the listener was not human.
"I heard the things you were blabbering without the slightest guard."
"There... was... no one listening...!"
Meanwhile, when Libertas said something that essentially implied she had also been present in the social club, Hayley's eyes, which had been watching her carefully, soon filled with realization.
"You... don't tell me... that young lady...!"
"Your perception is quick. Only your perception."
She had figured out that Libertas was indeed 'that small, beautiful young lady' she had seen at the social club, despite her altered hair color, eye color, and even slightly changed impression.
'People who believe themselves clever often fail to grasp simple truths they could notice with just a little thought. Just like Talhan.'
The mistake of someone moderately cunning, unaware that realizing that alone could lead their very life to death.
For Libertas, it was only natural to think of the man who had been Talhan's original.
"If you don't... let me go safely...! I'll never say another word...!"
"Fine."
"Huh...?"
Since Libertas had stated her business up front, the words were spat out fiercely, as if Hayley thought that was her final bastion.
When Libertas nodded easily, Hayley wore an expression as if all thought had been severed.
Of course, had she known what this necromancer would do in the next moment, she would sooner have tried to escape from this place.
Or simply die.
"You are already... safe, child of man."
"......?"
Beyond the now-vacant eyes of the noblewoman, Libertas's gaze gleamed.
With a bewitching violet light.
"I am... safe."
"Indeed. Because the place you belong has always been at my side."
"... Your... side..."
"My name is Libertas. I am the master to whom you devote your fate."
"Master..."
Libertas, having spent a long while after that implanting suggestions, only roused Hayley after thoroughly confirming that the words she had etched in had properly settled in her mind.
Ttak!
"... I behold my Master."
Naturally, the attitude with which the awakened Hayley addressed Libertas had done a complete 180-degree turn.
- 2 -
Hayley had to be dominated through hypnosis and suggestion, but the escorts did not require such measures.
Because while Hayley's 'knowledge' had to be utilized intact, there was no need to replicate the deep-seated memories or unconscious minds the escorts possessed.
And no matter how much the upkeep cost for summoned creatures might be, it was obviously less trouble than directly maintaining and renewing hypnosis magic.
"Devour them."
- Yes...!
"S-save me...!!!"
Puhwak - !
There were three intellectual elements a Cerebrum Skull possessed.
Self-awareness that it was once human, memories sufficient to mimic the human habits it had in life, and lastly, the instinct to obey its master.
'Talhan is clearly a special case.'
He was unusually obsessed with his former life, and possessed a strong desire to escape his current form to claim a better body—but that was another way of saying there was no possibility like that inherent in Cerebrum Skulls.
"You four. Guard Hayley and handle communication."
"Yes, Master."
"Hayley. Act as usual, but when you head for the underground market, inform me of the time and place. When do you depart?"
"Three days from now, Master."
"Very well. I'll see you then."
"Travel safely."
After answering the farewells of Hayley and the things that had been her escorts with a gesture, I left the spot.
By my side, Evangeline, Axe, and the soldiers promptly followed, vanishing into the shadows, while Shue clung to my side as always.
"Are you going to find that kid's core for her...?"
"Since we're already exchanging favors, wouldn't that be for the best?"
- Tap.
"I see..."
An emotion seeped from within the shadows, and sullenness soaked into Shue's face.
Whether she couldn't hide it, or simply didn't.
"Don't be jealous. She's a child who's arrived in an unfamiliar place and needs someone to lean on."
"It doesn't seem like it's only that..."
- Dalgeurak.
I'd been feeling it all along.
That the affection and kindness these children gave me were beyond normal bounds.
And that though their true hearts wanted to give more, deeper, they were holding back as if wary of something.
Whenever I gave attention or care to another, unease or discontent subtly bubbled up—how could I not notice?
'Sometimes it's amusing too.'
It's amusing and endearing, so I deliberately don't let it show.
I also trust that someday they'll properly tell me about it.
"More than that, tomorrow I—"
So instead of letting her fall into jealousy right away, I was going to focus her on what needed to be done...
But there was no longer any need.
Kwang - !!!
In the next moment, I was already cradled in the arms of Shue and Eve, watching the backs of Axe and the soldiers who had raised their shields.
- Kiyaaak - !!
An explosion, a magical signal, and a frenzy-filled howl erupted from the other side of the city.
'So today was the day the incident would break out after all.'
It was an omen of attack that anyone could recognize.
"... Let's go to Seth. Quickly."
- Tap!
And one perpetrated by monsters at that.