Chapter 90. Chaos is the Standard (3)
Chapter 90. Chaos is the Standard (3)
5
"What kind of soap-opera mess is this......."
I muttered. This is insane.
In the old warehouse, where moonlight streamed through the large iron bars, the Heretic Questioner was beaming. For someone in a situation no different from being locked in a prison, his face was remarkably bright.
"Ah, I was made to cross-dress many times as a child. But I never imagined I would actually receive the role of a noble young lady. This, too, is one of life's experiences!"
"I'd like to borrow just a little of that infinite positive energy of yours......."
"The world is beautiful. Death King! Think positively!"
Does this man ever not smile?
Even if a meteor fell right in front of him, he'd probably just laugh and say, "Oh dear, this is terrible! The world is being destroyed! Well, nothing we can do. We did our best!"
"What's so positive about this?"
"Exactly this!"
The Heretic Questioner wriggled both hands and formed a hand seal. Then he whispered softly.
"Divine Art, Divine Transformation (變神)."
Light flowed between his slender fingers. It was the Heretic Questioner's specialty, Divine Art. If it was called Divine Transformation, it had to be some kind of art that changed something... but at a glance, nothing about his appearance had changed.
But the moment the Heretic Questioner spoke, I understood exactly what the Transformation had changed.
"...How is it?"
For just an instant, I got goosebumps.
"Do I seem a bit more like a young lady now?"
"Your voice......."
"Yes! I altered the structure of my vocal cords slightly."
He smiled.
"I'm told my voice is androgynous as it is. With just a little refinement, it becomes quite suitable. Aha, though I myself cannot objectively hear my own voice! How is it?"
"It's incredible......?"
Honestly, I was impressed.
"You sound like a noble with real dignity. Well, as long as you keep your mouth shut."
"Thank you!"
"Mm."
I stroked my chin.
Unexpectedly, we had possessed the roles of [Heroine & Butler]. But the Heretic Questioner and I could handle this well enough. The Heretic Questioner had Divine Art.......
And I had my regression skill.
'Okay.'
This was worth challenging as many times as it took.
"......."
The Heretic Questioner peeked up at my face.
"Your complexion has relaxed a little."
"Pardon?"
"Ever since returning from the Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon, your expression has been dark. Death King. You have accumulated considerable stress while clearing Apocalypses."
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Well, you lost your precious master, so it's only natural! That's why I was worried about this run as well. I wondered what we would do if Death King couldn't perform due to gloomy emotions, but my worries were unfounded."
"...Still, you can look at a person's face and guess their emotions?"
"Yes! I don't know what the emotion of gloom feels like, but I understand it intellectually! Aha. Even machines creak when grime builds up. Stress is the grime of humans. If left too long, it becomes sediment that's hard to wipe away, so manage it well!"
Fascinating. Was he trying to understand humans in his own way? He was a psycho, but a commendable one.
"By the way, Death King."
"Yes."
"There's been something strange for a while now."
"What's strange?"
"As I understand it, we are currently imprisoned by unjust power. Our freedom of movement is suppressed."
"That's how I understand the situation too."
"I'm glad our mutual understanding has improved! And usually in such cases, those in power station guards or jailers to watch over the prisoners. Otherwise, escape could be attempted too easily."
The Heretic Questioner tilted his head.
"But right now, I sense no presence outside the door. Instead, I sense presences near the window. Hm. In this world, do they station guards around windows rather than in front of doors?"
At that moment.
"Damn! Strike!"
The iron bars flew off and shadows leaped in through the window.
"Kill the man if you must! Just don't harm the woman!"
The shadows wore masks over their faces. Their dress concept was far too dramatic to pass them off as guests who had come because they were worried about us. No matter how you looked at it, this was an assault by intruders.
"Sparkle!"
[Yes, Hero.]
I drew the holy sword. Clang! The attacker's sword clashed with mine.
There was no exchange of the usual questions and answers with attackers that you often see in movie ambush scenes. The kind of dialogue summarized as "Who are you!", "You don't need to know! But we have a tremendous power behind us!" Both my opponent and I were too busy swinging our swords.
However, I had a hidden trick.
"Now!"
Flash.
The holy sword blazed with light.
"Gah!"
The attacker, whose eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, squeezed his eyes shut for a mere instant. In a swordfight of clashing blades, an instant decided the outcome.
I blinked my left and right eyes alternately to secure my vision, then sliced off the attacker's wrist.
"...Kk, ......!"
A scream marbled into his voice.
"Death King! You mustn't kill them all! We need to uncover who's behind this, so keep them alive!"
I did as he said.
The Heretic Questioner was also in action, his dress hem fluttering.
"This is insane! Sh-she's not an ordinary girl?"
The attackers were horrified. They weren't particularly skilled. Or rather, were we simply too strong? They were small fry who couldn't even use aura; they couldn't handle us.
In the end, the four attackers were subdued in an instant. One of them was killed by the Heretic Questioner during the fight.
"Hm. Ahaha."
The Heretic Questioner wiped the blood spattered on his face with his dress sleeve. The attackers looked up at him. Their faces were white as sheets.
"We heard she was a frail noble lady... how......."
"You all have three options!"
The Heretic Questioner smiled brightly, dagger in hand.
"First, you can simply die by asking me to kill you right here! Second, you can be tortured by me while confessing important information one by one! Third, if you purely spill the information, you will neither die nor be tortured! Which will you choose?"
"Heh......."
The oldest-looking attacker snorted. He was also the man whose wrist I had sliced off.
"Crazy bitch. Just kill me!"
"Yes! Understood!"
"What?"
And then the Heretic Questioner's dress grew a little redder.
Thud. A dull sound echoed through the warehouse.
A head had dropped to the floor.
"H-hiiiiik......!"
Two attackers remained.
"Have you finished choosing?"
"P-please spare us, my lady. We were merely hired for a job!"
"It's a hard world to make a living in. I understand."
"Then......."
"But just as I understand your circumstances, you must understand my position as well!"
"......."
"Please tell me why you attacked us. In exchange, I will let you live and send you on your way. I believe I've made considerable concessions in this deal."
The attackers hesitated.
"Ah, it seems you can't make up your minds. Understood! I'll help you decide!"
"Um. When you say help us......."
"Torture."
The Heretic Questioner was still beaming.
"Pain proves that a human is alive. When pain reaches its extreme, a person's survival instinct also peaks. Now then. Allow me to maximize your desire to live."
"P-please spare us!"
"Please let us live!"
Insane.
At this rate the genre was going to turn into an R-rated romance, so I stepped in.
"Hold on. Heretic Questioner."
"Yes?"
"There's no need to go that far. Leave it to me."
"Hm......?"
The Heretic Questioner looked puzzled.
"Death King, are you also skilled in torture? Unless you're quite proficient, I recommend leaving it to me. I am a specialist in interrogation."
"No, there's no need for torture. And wipe your face."
I handed the Heretic Questioner a handkerchief and stood before the attackers.
The attackers sighed in relief. Sorry, but I'm not that generous toward people who attacked me first.
"Gentlemen. Let me ask you something."
"Wh-what is it."
"You came in through the window when you attacked. The iron bars were cut far too easily. Did you hear that we would be locked up here and cut the bars in advance?"
"......."
The attackers didn't answer. They just glanced at each other. But just because they didn't answer with their mouths didn't mean there was no way to find out the truth.
'Character window.'
Their psychology was visible to me.
「We heard a woman would be brought to the warehouse.」
「Damn it, they said she was an ordinary young lady, but it was a lie!」
As I thought.
The attackers had already known we would come here.
"When you attacked us, you shouted [Kill the man if you must, just don't harm the woman]. Were you trying to kidnap the young lady here?"
"Th-that... that is......."
The attackers blinked.
「The request was to kidnap the woman here.」
「The client firmly warned us never to harm that woman. That's why four of us were sent, just to be safe.」
Hm.
Right, I see.
"Hah......."
I sighed. When I turned around, the Heretic Questioner was diligently wiping his face with the handkerchief. He looked exactly like a baby hamster gnawing on a sunflower seed.
"I have a sense of who the culprit is."
The Heretic Questioner's ears perked up.
"Oh? You already know?"
"Yes."
"I'd like to hear Death King's deduction."
The Heretic Questioner's eyes sparkled.
I nodded and whispered into his ear.
"First, the culprit is a person of tremendous power. They hired four assassins and infiltrated them into the academy, which would be impossible unless they knew the academy's security system inside and out."
"Oh ho. That's reasonable!"
However, the Heretic Questioner raised an objection.
"But does the culprit necessarily have to be a [person of tremendous power]? It's not a royal palace; figuring out an academy's security system seems relatively easy. Even a moderately powerful person could do it!"
"A sharp point, but......"
I shook my head.
"There's one more suspicious circumstance. Heretic Questioner, do you remember what the [villainess] shouted when she drove us out earlier?"
"Hmm."
The Heretic Questioner tucked the handkerchief into his sleeve and pondered.
"Yes, I remember. She definitely said [Get out of my sight at once, lock up that master and servant immediately]. Why do you ask?"
"She never said a single word about where, or in what place, to lock us up."
"......."
"The villainess just told them to get us out of the ballroom. But these attackers knew where we would be locked up and cut the iron bars in advance. And the ones who brought us to this warehouse were the villainess's servants."
"Oh ho......."
The Heretic Questioner's eyes narrowed like threads.
"Indeed. The villainess could be the one who hired the attackers. She could have ordered her servants in advance where to imprison us, and then simply informed the attackers of the location. Aha. Being a duke's daughter, she would certainly have that kind of power."
"Yes. But......."
"But it's too obvious."
The Heretic Questioner stroked his chin.
"[I], for all appearances, am the protagonist of this Apocalypse world. A noble daughter who is in a budding romance with the crown prince. The villainess drives me out, and then attacks me at the place where I was driven out? No matter how much of a ducal daughter she is, she'd be caught up in a massive scandal! It's a terrible move with too much political burden."
As expected, the Heretic Questioner was sharp.
Conversations like this went quickly with him.
"In other words, the villainess isn't the culprit. The real culprit is someone who wants the villainess to [look like the culprit]."
"I agree!"
"And this real culprit values you, the female protagonist, so much that they told the attackers [never harm the woman]. They don't care at all whether I, the male butler, live or die. Lastly, they're powerful enough to bribe the ducal house's servants."
"Ahaha."
The Heretic Questioner smiled with his eyes.
"I'm beginning to understand who the real culprit is!"
"You're probably thinking the same thing I am."
"Mm. I don't understand the emotion of love. But I do know the habits of a person in love! If the real culprit truly values [me] as much as Death King has deduced, there's no way they would actually entrust my safety to attackers like these."
"Yes."
I nodded.
"They'll be waiting nearby. Ready to charge in at any moment."
Boom!
That was when the warehouse's old door shattered. Dust rose, and a group of knights poured in.
At the very front was a man who looked like he had never gotten dirt on his hands in his life.
"Sylvia! Are you all right, Sylvia!"
The man ran over and hugged the Heretic Questioner tightly. Golden hair like raw ramen noodles rippled. He wasn't as handsome as the Heretic Questioner, but that man was good-looking too. His appearance level was about 0.6 Heretic Questioner, I'd say.
"Good heavens. You're covered in blood! I heard you were driven out of the ballroom and came in my unease, and then... to dare commit such a vile act......!"
And his psychopath level was probably also about 0.6 Heretic Questioner.
The man gave an order without blinking once.
"Attend me! Seize those suspicious wretches at once! I shall personally interrogate them and uncover every detail of who is behind this! I know not which house has done this, but even if they are a meritorious subject of the Empire, I shall not forgive them!"
The knights answered in unison.
"Yes! We obey His Highness the Crown Prince's command!"
That's right.
"Lady Sylvia. Do not worry. I shall protect you. No matter how vicious the means the ducal house's daughter employs, I, the sole heir of the Empire, shall protect you. You need only rely on me......."
That man was the male protagonist of [The Tale of Sormwyn Academy].
And the crown prince who loved the Heretic Questioner.