Plague Queen (1)
Levitia opened her eyes.
"Ugh. How long has it been since I passed out like this? Since I escaped the orphanage and joined the circus? Or since that cranky old man I met at the circus took me as his apprentice and taught me thievery? Or since I stole the masterpiece 'Geinica', painted by the genius artist Pablo Casofi, from the Reina Sofia Museum in Midland? Or..."
"Beep! Soliloquy spammer. Extreme disgust."
AlphaGo shoved a gag into Levitia's mouth.
"...Your Honor! I'm innocent... Mmph mph mph!"
Levitia quickly realized she was tightly bound and hanging upside down from a tree branch. This wasn't a courtroom—it was a deep, remote forest where no one would notice if a single person vanished.
A shadow she never wanted to see again slowly loomed over her.
"You have no right to remain silent, no right to an attorney, and no right to refuse self-incriminating statements."
The pink-haired boy appeared, denying every Miranda right. It was Cliche. Beside him, Roin—dressed in pajamas—panted heavily.
"Ugh. For one of the top eight executives called the 'Eight Heads' in the world's worst crime syndicate, Hydra, to end up like this so pathetically..."
Levitia kept muttering and lamenting. The entire Pink Dragon Knights made no secret of their annoyance.
"Beep! Your overly verbose backstory vibes are irritating."
"Ho ho ho. Another new character pops up out of nowhere."
"Kukuku! Do we really need another gimmick? Maybe just eliminate her..."
"Peel off,,,the skin,,,layer,,,by layer,,,sprinkle,,,some salt,,,grill on,,,a hot plate,,,and it'll steal,,,the show~~!! Kyaa, old saying,,,not wrong,,,at all~~They say,,,needle thief,,,gets caught,,,and becomes,,,rice thief~~"
Hotse drew her kukri without another word. Hearing that, Levitia shrank back in terror.
"Um, this is a slice-of-life/healing/comfort story, right? Please don't change the genre..."
"Wrong. It's horror/thriller/gore."
Hotse dismissed Levitia's plea and pressed the kukri against her.
"Kyaaaaack!?"
Levitia screamed like a maniac, so hard that blood trickled from her throat. But Hotse, yanking Levitia's hair, remained utterly calm. She had the seasoned air of someone who'd heard screams like this countless times before. She raised the kukri without mercy and began scalping Levitia's head...
"Whoa!? Stop!"
Roin swiftly wedged herself between Hotse and Levitia.
"We can't switch genres like that. She's an important hostage—we need her testimony, right?"
"Wrong,,,not killing,,,just,,,scooop,,,half-dead,,,neither living,,,nor dying~~"
"Aw, come on. Still."
Roin good-naturedly soothed Hotse and made her sheathe the blade. She then narrowed her eyes at the tightly bound Levitia.
"If you're a thief, stick to stealing stuff. Why come to someone else's country and spread a plague?"
Levitia averted her gaze and mumbled evasively.
"Uh... must be a misunderstanding. I didn't come here to steal anything. I'm a pure 100% thief! Totally innocent!"
"No, you're not innocent the moment you show up to steal something. And what valuable is there to steal in this rural village? Nothing shiny in sight."
Roin's sharp retort made Levitia glance away and hedge.
"Wh-what do you mean, nothing valuable!"
"Like what?"
"Well... uh, health?"
"So you did come to spread the plague!"
Roin glared fiercely at Levitia.
"People infected with the Ping Rash you spread go blind and deaf! You knew that and did it anyway!?"
Levitia smirked at Roin's words.
"Ping Rash? Oh, you mean the 'love-high fever'? It's basically a drug that induces feelings of love. Side effects might include blindness and deafness, but when you're in love, you don't see or hear anything else anyway..."
Levitia couldn't finish her sentence.
"Anyway,,,just scalp her~~~"
Hotse, annoyed by her smugness, pressed the blade again. The tip poked her scalp, and Levitia thrashed wildly once more.
"Uwaaaah! Sorry! My bad! But the disease only lasts about a month and goes away on its own!"
Levitia didn't seem to be lying. Hotse's blade was so sharp, she'd already pissed herself a little.
Roin took a patient deep breath.
"Did you plan to spread this plague?"
"...No."
"Then who?"
Levitia hesitated again at Roin's question.
"Thoooose kinds~~~can't be~~~talked into~~~smash,,,scooop~~~smash~~~!!"
Hotse raised her blade toward Levitia's butt, and she wailed, tears and snot streaming down.
"An executiveee! Another exec from our orgaaanization told me toooo!"
Hanging like a cocoon from the branch, wriggling desperately—who'd believe she was the world's greatest phantom thief? Then.
Tap—Cliche stepped forward. He picked up the pink potion vial Levitia had carried and sniffed it.
"Smells like home. Is the guy who made this the one who hired you?"
Levitia nodded frantically at Cliche's words.
"Y-yeah. He's the real culprit. I don't know anything. Just took the job..."
"Who is it."
"O-one of Hydra's Eight Heads... We only know each other by face usually..."
Levitia spilled everything she knew.
"Not 'cause I'm loose-lipped. This is to keep the genre from changing."
She muttered some incomprehensible excuse.
* * *
In the eastern outskirts of Rok Kingdom, amid sprawling pharmaceutical factories, one building stood out. A massive hemispherical dome, its walls meters thick, reinforced with steel rebar and concrete.
Inside the dome, countless drugs were "produced"—but that was just a front. The real facility lay underground.
A vast subterranean plaza, so dark and expansive it was hard to take in at a glance.
"Th-this... I only heard rumors. It's real!"
A fat man shouted in rapture. He was Dardan, steward of Viscount Idas's high-noble family in Midland.
Dardan gazed in awe at the sunken pit in the plaza's center.
Beside him, an old man sat in a high chair. His body was unbelievably toned for his age. Slicked-back white hair and a thick beard accentuated his handsome features.
A slender maid with green bobbed hair stood beside him, smiling seductively.
The three looked down into the central pit, where horrors unfolded.
"Kieeeek!"
Innumerable monsters slaughtered each other inside. Crunch! A giant toad swallowed a massive centipede. Splurt—A bloated toad was pierced by a giant scorpion's stinger. Then a hornet hunted the scorpion, only to be bitten by a snake.
A bloodbath of venomous beasts devouring one another.
"Incredible. This is Lab 51, the secret of Rodigia Pharmaceuticals! Extracting the ultimate poison!"
Dardan marveled at the dwindling monsters, their venom growing ever deadlier.
The old man on the chair chuckled.
"Exactly. Throw venomous monsters together, starve them till one's left. The survivor's poison becomes exceptionally lethal."
"Kuhuhu. Good. 'President,' with that poison, I can kill the family head and seize the fortune. Then I'll invest handsomely."
"As you wish."
Dardan and Rodigia's president exchanged sly laughs over their secret deal.
Then.
"Kieeeek!"
A roar echoed from the pit's depths. The last survivor emerged.
"Kraaak! You humans!"
A monster with a human torso and scorpion lower body stood with bloodshot eyes.
"I, Scorpion Queen Chaka Chaka, am the final survivor! Free me as promised!"
Chaka Chaka's aura was ferocious.
"Of course. Promises must be kept. Can't have you harming staff, so cuffs first. Then freedom."
The president nodded toward her. Employees approached with massive chains and manacles.
Splat!
Chaka Chaka struck. She decapitated three employees and bolted up the stairs through their entry door.
"Huh?"
The guarding spearmen had no time to react. Thud thud thud! They were torn apart by her pincers.
"Kuhuhu. Can't die till I settle things with Spider Queen Curequium once more, you bastards..."
Out of the pit, Chaka Chaka exuded venomous miasma from her body.
"H-hiiik. What the...?"
Dardan backed away in horror. He never imagined such a powerhouse lurked down there!
"..."
But the president remained unfazed.
"Step aside for a moment."
He shoved the green-haired maid from his lap and advanced. Shing—He drew his waist sword, a gaseous blue aura blade forming, aimed at Chaka Chaka.
"Ooh! Sword Master! No way! You're that strong!?"
Dardan cheered. Sword Masters—masters of the blade across the continent—superhumans!
With a Sword Master, things changed. That vile scorpion wouldn't rampage anymore.
Or so Dardan thought.
Spark! Chaka Chaka swung her pincer—clang! The old man's head flew off effortlessly. Even the unbreakable aura blade snapped in two.
"Kekeke. Think a mere Sword Master can stop me after devouring hordes? I'm strong enough to face Curequium now! Why do you think I let myself get caught!?"
Chaka Chaka laughed chillingly atop the headless corpse.
But.
"Kekekeke... Gurk!?"
She couldn't finish laughing. A terrifying grip choked her throat—pure poison gas!
"Wh-what!?"
Chaka Chaka panicked. Poison strong enough to fell the Scorpion Queen? Impossible.
"Wh-who...?"
Glancing around, her eyes met another's.
"..."
The green-bobbed maid, standing politely by the chair. She gazed down at Chaka Chaka with a bewitching smile.
"Y-you bitch... you...!"
Chaka Chaka stammered as light faded from her eyes. Thud—her massive body collapsed.
The Scorpion Queen's pathetic end.
"This poison's a bit bland."
The green-haired woman exhaled cigarette smoke, brushing past stunned Dardan to the decapitated old man.
The true president of Rodigia Pharmaceuticals, Cindywendy, revealed her real face.
Ssssh—She extended her hand, extracting the essence of Chaka Chaka's venomous aura into her palm.
Pfong! She pulled a small vial from her bosom, condensing and bottling the poison.
Capping it, she tossed it to the sprawled Dardan.
"Your promised item. Pay up on time."
Dardan opened his mouth to speak, bewitched by her smile.
Boom!
A heavy quake shook the dome! Rumble! Cracks spiderwebbed the ceiling, rocks tumbling down.
Crash! A boulder plummeted, blocking Cindywendy's path—right where Dardan cowered.
"...What? Shoddy construction?"
Cindywendy showed no change in expression amid the chaos, merely furrowing one brow.
Collapsing ceiling. Billowing dust. She addressed the haze irritably.
"You broke the ceiling. Take responsibility."
Intruders emerged from the dust. Surprise flickered across Cindywendy's face as she scanned them.
Her thick cigar trembled faintly between her lips.
"...Pink?"