Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
EP5 - The Saintess of the Palace (2)
I was about to kick the fallen guy in the face, but decided against it.
The reason for the attack was simple. His 【Script】 suggested he was going to try to subdue me. My personality, which always made me wonder about the developers whenever I saw a certificate of authentication, also played a part.
"Kuh-heuk! Euh-heuk-heu-euk…!!"
The guy, rolling on the floor, flailed and tried to draw his sword, but collapsed again, seemingly in agony. Blood flowed, staining his cheek. Priests rushed over to tend to him.
As they were pouring Divine Power quickly, there wouldn't be any lasting damage. The pain would linger, though.
Anyway, with things turning out this way, Rebecca's favorability plummeted in my mind, even though I hadn't even met her yet. Just as a country gets criticized if its envoy is rude, the princess gets criticized if her guardian knight is rude.
With that thought, I turned around, but a maid hurriedly ran up and blocked my path, clasping her hands together.
"I-I'm sorry, Professor Dante. The guardian knight is new and was too rude…"
"Will you step aside?"
"Yes! But, well… the princess is waiting inside right now. Could you possibly come inside? Please…"
Attitude is important.
If someone is rude, I have no choice but to be rude.
If they show respect like this, I will also show respect.
"……I understand."
I went up the stairs and knocked on the door of the clergy room.
A voice told me to come in.
Opening the door, I stepped into a quiet space filled with a soft, warm light.
There was a monster assassin disguised as a maid, and a monster knight disguised as an old retainer.
And in the center of them both.
Rebecca sat on a chair, greeting me.
"Oh my."
Soon, she stood up and approached me.
Smiling sweetly.
"You've come."
A chilling sensation crept up my spine. Even though nothing was appearing in the 【Script】.
She was just pretending to be a saintess. My senses told me that Rebecca was a frighteningly dangerous woman.
"You can come and sit down."
But right now, for some reason, she was pretending to be a Student. It seemed like a kind of role-playing game.
A typical professor would be polite, but I decided to play along with her game.
"In the future, if you want to meet with a professor, apply for an interview with the research lab assistant."
The expressions of the old man and the maid behind Rebecca twisted for a moment. Judging by their 【Scripts】, they thought I was crazy.
But Rebecca smiled brightly.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I've been so busy that it's been difficult to find the time."
"Since you're busy, I'll get straight to the point. What is your business?"
Rebecca blinked blankly for a moment, then spoke subtly.
"Could you two leave us alone for a moment?"
After the two left, she said.
"I heard about you from Kaiser the other day. He said you're a very wonderful person."
"Kaiser has an eye for talent."
"Indeed. I've never seen Kaiser praise someone so highly before. I was curious and wanted to see for myself what kind of person you are, Professor."
Her voice was truly soft and like tinkling jade.
I didn't want to think so, but that's how it felt.
"You didn't call me here just to look at my face."
"Of course not. Actually, I was wondering how to bring up something you probably already know, so I was beating around the bush."
"I'm listening."
"There are strong children. They may only be at the level of learning Students now, but in the future, they will grow into some of the strongest people on the continent. But they have many shortcomings… They are children who need help."
"What I'm hearing is quite puzzling. As far as I know, you are all heirs of noble families and wealthy organizations."
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"When painting still lifes, the rotten parts are turned away. Do you know that the imperial princess hanged herself at the beginning of the year? Even the beautiful princess, who was loved by everyone, wealthy, and possessed the greatest power in the world… must have needed help."
The princess looked up at me again.
"I know what you're trying to say. Then, let me ask you. Why did you call me instead of the head professors?"
It had been a question all along.
The head professors were strong individuals whose level was vastly different from that of ordinary professors.
They were naturally stronger than the current Hidden Dragon Society, and even the professors were taught by them. They were the assassins who would become the pillars of the nation.
Rebecca narrowed her decadent red eyes.
"I don't trust the professors."
Her voice was very cautious.
But her tone was firm.
"You don't trust the professors?"
"They all lack motivation, and they don't really like us."
"Is it because you're threatening?"
"That's also true, but I'm not a very pretty Student."
"……."
"Even those who sometimes pretend to care are only thinking of using us."
"I am also a professor in the Assassination Studies department."
"I heard that you scolded the Students who had been assassinating for their lack of sincerity in their assassinations. And the person who told me that was Kaiser. That boy's judgment has never been wrong."
I could roughly understand what she was saying.
Hiaka Academy wasn't a very good place.
"I know that I can't make a decision based on feelings alone. I will take care of you so that you lack nothing. As a princess… so please."
Rebecca asked in a small voice.
"Please, would you become the advisor of the Hidden Dragon Society…?"
I thought for a moment.
This was the same as Kaiser's request.
The message he had left, asking me to correct them if they went astray, was still in my 「crystal ball」.
The reason I had delayed my answer was to check the 【Script】, but nothing was appearing.
"Unfortunately, my answer is the same as the one I gave Kaiser. I have no intention of mentoring anyone separately."
"……."
This was a small trap in [Hell Difficulty].
Anyone arrogant enough to think they could fix people themselves would step into this swamp, but not me. I knew exactly that there was a monster baring its fangs in front of me right now.
"……That's a shame. Kaiser will be very disappointed too."
Unexpectedly, Rebecca nodded obediently.
"I understand. I wish you all the best, Professor."
It was an expulsion order.
As I turned to leave, the 【Scripts】 of the two people outside came to mind.
They had seen me knock down the knight, and they were furious at my refusal, and at the same time, they were thinking of me as 'someone who was said to have a good eye but is actually trash'.
I had no intention of refuting that, but something caught my eye.
＊ Veil [Curse, Curse, Curse]
On the Veil hanging on the coat rack next to the door.
There were as many as three curses on it.
It was like seeing the Deadly Poison on Kaiser's Five-Colored Black Tea before.
It was strange. It shouldn't have been visible in the first place.
But now, as I was tying the first knot in this dangerous relationship, there was no harm in letting her know.
"Princess Rebecca."
"Yes, Professor."
"Have a detection mage as your escort."
“…Yes?”
"Try to check your surroundings as much as possible. The princess didn't commit suicide, she was murdered. There are people who are praying for your death too."
I kicked the coat rack, and the Veil fell to the floor.
I had one last thing to say.
"Hire a new knight."
That was the end of my meeting with the princess.
* * *
After Dante left.
"……."
Princess Rebecca stared blankly at the door he had left through.
The smile had disappeared from her lips.
After that, the old knight and the female shadow warrior came in and began to criticize him.
"Truly! That fellow's arrogance is sky-high! Isn't his inner self shallow and base? How dare he try to speak down to the princess in front of her when no one else is around!"
"My opinion is similar to Lord Cheongru's, Princess. You don't have to employ a professor like that."
Indeed. Wasn't she a member of the glorious royal family? Even the head of the Assassination Studies department would kneel and bow his head if he wanted to have an audience with the princess.
"That, that arrogant professor… Just give the order! I'll take steps to make sure he quits his job…"
"It's okay."
Rebecca silenced them with a light word.
Then she stared blankly at the Veil.
The two noticed the meaning of her gaze.
"Ah, about that, you don't have to worry too much about it. What would the professor know to say such a thing? Everything that touches the princess's body comes under the supervision of the chamberlain…"
Rebecca interrupted her.
"Lord Reim."
“…Yes, Princess.”
"Is Ezekiel, the head of the Magic Studies department, in District 2 right now?"
"Yes. Probably."
"Would you go and check?"
The shadow warrior of the guard, Reim, frowned inwardly, because it seemed that Professor Dante was unnecessarily worrying the princess.
'What a joke. That arrogant guy…'
Professor Dante Hiacapo. He had no martial arts ranking and his past assassination experience was not specified. Wasn't he a low-level professor?
'He's nothing special…'
He repeatedly slandered him in his mind.
He was meddling when he didn't know anything.
But.
When he went to find the [Challenger]-level mage Ezekiel, the answer he received was strange.
"It's there."
"Yes?"
Huh?
"There are three curses. With very cruel curses."
"But, in the chamberlain's inspection…"
"The curse may have been placed afterward. One of the three is also a curse that is limited to being activated only on young women, so it may have been missed. It's truly ingenious."
He couldn't believe it.
"What should I do? Should I destroy the Veil?"
"No… I have to take it back."
"Take it, then."
He left, but he couldn't understand.
'…He's lucky.'
He seemed to know a little about curse magic.
'He must have sensed something vaguely ominous and guessed correctly, right?'
The shadow warrior Reim returned and informed the princess of the fact. At the same time, he felt fear about what kind of scolding would be given.
Rebecca stared blankly at the Veil, then checked the past and realized something.
"There's a maid who braids her hair in pigtails. A cute one with red cheeks."
"Yes, Princess. That's Heart."
"Bring her here."
Three minutes later, the maid was brought into the princess's bedchamber, her arms held.
The female shadow warrior Reim kicked the maid in the back of her knees, and she screamed and fell to the ground.
Rebecca approached her and grabbed her by the hair.
"It's you."
The maid shook her head in fear.
"P-Princess! I, I, I didn't know anything…!"
"Why did you do it?"
"I just did what I was told…! I really didn't know anything…!"
"We've been together for more than a day or two. You, who gently brushed my hair every morning. How could you betray me?"
"Princess……."
"Tell me. Did you hate me too?"
"……!"
The maid was horrified and lowered her head, but was pulled up again by the strength of Rebecca's grip.
Red eyes were looking at her.
"I want to know what you think. Did you think so too? Did you think that I was a vulgar woman born from the womb of a street whore, a bloodline of a bug that shouldn't be treated like a princess? Did you too?"
The maid's face turned white.
Even at this moment when the language was reversed, the princess's expression was so calm.
The princess let go of her hair. The maid couldn't dare to look her in the eye and buried her head in the ground.
"Lord Cheongru."
As if an order was about to be given, the maid began to beg again.
"P-P-Princess…! Please, just save me once…! I'll, I'll tell you who ordered me…!"
"There's no need for that. These days, technology is so good that even corpses can talk."
"……!"
"But I'm curious. What was the curse placed on my Veil?"
"I, I don't know, Princess… I swear, I don't know anything…"
"Then I'll have to find out."
"How… Ack!"
Rebecca grabbed the maid's hair again and bent her neck back. Then she stuffed the Veil into her mouth.
Wasn't it said to be a curse that only affected young women?
“…We’re about the same age, aren’t we? You and I.”
The maid struggled and tried to spit it out, but her hands were tied behind her back, and Rebecca didn't release her grip until it went in.
She herself had a fairly high resistance to curses for some reason, but the maid wouldn't.
“…Uup!”
And as Head Ezekiel had said, the curse that only affected young women began to manifest.
The maid's face began to age in real time.
"Eueueup…! Eueueueup…!"
A truly terrible curse. Her face aged instantly. Her hair began to turn white and spread out in pigtails.
"How ugly it is, to grow old……."
Rebecca watched the scene with a gloomy expression.
Around that time, the maid spat out the Veil. It was stained with saliva and blood, and she didn't want to touch it again.
"Lord Cheongru. Cut off this child's limbs and throw them to Moong as food."
"Yes. Princess."
An inorganic command.
The old knight drew his sword to carry out the order.
Swish-
Then he took a step to do what he always did.
The aged maid struggled and screamed.
"P-Princess…! Princess… Rebecca, you bug-like bitch…!! I, I will……!"
The old knight raised his sword high and thought.
What kind of accidental death should this maid be processed as?
It was an accidental fall.
The low-ranking knight was expelled.
⋮
After all the situation was over.
Princess Rebecca sat on the bed and looked out the window.
She stared at the stars she hated so much.
Suddenly, she muttered in wonder.
"……How did he know?"
The professor.
EP5
The Saintess of the Palace
END