Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Wish Right (4)
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The day after having dinner with Clea.
I dragged myself to the prison with a heavy heart.
'That notification from yesterday... What the hell happened?'
Several bad endings that I was sure I'd properly sealed away.
Last night, they had suddenly broken free again.
"What could be the reason?"
The catastrophe-level prisoners were all stable right now.
On top of that, in this life, even the Princess was still around, making the situation better than before.
'Just to be safe, I should patrol the prison first.'
The corridors were eerily quiet.
I only ran into one guard who'd just finished his rounds.
He didn't seem to have any issues either.
"All clear during my shift."
"Good work. How were the prisoners?"
"Nothing unusual with any of them."
"I see."
So was the threat coming from outside the prison?
With the Auditor General safely dealt with, no one should be gunning for me right now.
"Oh. There was one thing that caught my attention."
"What was it?"
There it was.
I immediately straightened my uniform cap with a grave expression.
"Prisoners 4 and 5. Fred and Nix seem to have caught some kind of illness."
"Illness? Did they look bad?"
"Not really. They said it was just a cold and not to worry."
"I'll go check on them. You man the prison entrance today."
Telling him to guard the entrance.
In other words, something big was about to go down inside the cells, so evacuate.
"Looks like something major slipped past my notice. I'll isolate the other guards too."
True to his role as a guard in the world's worst prison, he got the hint and left.
Meanwhile, I headed alone to cells 4 and 5.
With resolute steps.
'Those two wouldn't catch a simple cold.'
Kids who endured the Holy See's brutal tortures wouldn't come down with something like that.
I cautiously opened the door to Fred's cell in the corner of the corridor first.
"......"
The black-haired boy was really lying in bed.
The same guy who'd smashed the wall energetically when he first arrived.
"Fred. Heard you have a cold. That true?"
"Not sure. Suddenly started shivering all over."
The kid barely propped himself up.
He supported his darkened face with one hand.
"Feels like my body's trembling from some intense aura nearby."
"This place is full of monster-like prisoners, sure. But you've been fine with it before, right?"
Fred slowly glanced at the wall toward Anje's cell.
"The Holy See uses divine power on top of mana. When strong divine powers clash, the weaker one suffers."
"I know the gist. That's how the archbishops could control you guys."
The former secret weapon of the Holy See nodded meaningfully.
Then, with his blue eyes, he looked up at me worriedly.
"......It's not a power only archbishops can wield."
Even though he was the one hurting.
"Besides you and Nix, there's someone else here who can use divine power. She's furious right now."
'If it's another powerhouse from the Holy See, there's only one.'
The Red Saintess.
Was Anti-Messiah Anje in a rage right now?
"Can you move?"
"Yeah, it's not bad enough to keep me down."
"Help Nix. I'll handle Anje."
"......Be careful. I've never felt her this angry."
Anje could explode in anger whenever she wanted.
The fact she was holding back meant she could vent it too.
"Got it. I'll talk her down."
What on earth had happened to the saintess?
Had Holy See executives snuck in after I left work and re-brainwashed her?
'I've been too complacent. Should've isolated her better...!'
With a heavy heart, I headed to cell 1.
An intense aura seeped through the firmly shut iron door.
Thanks to reaching mid-level Sword Expert, my instincts were screaming.
Get out now.
An ending? Already?
My hand on the doorknob twitched involuntarily.
Chilling words.
But I quickly steeled my resolve.
If it depended on my choices, that meant there was still a chance to avert ruin.
If there was even one shot, I wouldn't give up.
Not after all the hell I'd gone through for those horrific endings...
'This time, I'll claim my reward no matter what.'
Screeech―――.
As the thick iron door swung open, the even more intense aura made my hair flutter.
But I pressed on without hesitation.
"......"
The dimly lit cell with curtains drawn.
Inside, only two red eyes gleamed eerily.
"Anje?"
I cautiously lit the lantern.
The instant I did.
The distant red silhouette closed the gap to me in a flash.
"What, you came? I was just about to go find you."
She didn't look any different from usual.
So why this indescribable terror?
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
"What brings you? Looking like a lamb that snuck out and slunk back?"
"Fred and Nix are suffering from the divine power you're emitting. So I came to tell you to tone it down."
The saintess in her red dress clasped her hands behind her back.
She circled me leisurely like a rabbit.
"Hmm―. No idea how my divine power started overflowing?"
"If you stop, no one suffers. I'll ask questions after."
She halted abruptly.
Turning to me slowly, she shot back coldly, like gazing at a traitorous lover.
"This power doesn't fade on command. It's pure instinct, surging with my emotions."
"So it naturally dies down if you calm your anger?"
Anje reached toward the lantern.
At her gesture, even the hot flame fled instantly.
"Right. But can you make that happen?"
Red eyes glowed again in the darkness.
Like flames overflowing with vibrant life force.
"What are you so mad about? Because I won't let you out of the prison?"
My green eyes remained utterly calm in the half-darkness.
Like moss that had weathered any ordeal.
"You really have no idea."
Grown accustomed to the dark, Anje approached smoothly.
Her hand gently stroked my cheek.
"It's because of you. Derek Minster."
Just her slender fingers touching me.
Yet my whole body stiffened, as if coiled by a massive white serpent.
"Acting all pure, pretending to help us selflessly."
Her hands gripped both my cheeks.
A sea of blood drew closer in her red eyes.
"When really, we were just means to satisfy your filthy desires?"
"What are you talking about? I've never seen you that way."
I declared firmly, my voice steady without a tremor.
"No need to deny it. I know men can't escape love or lust."
Anje, who'd learned men's flaws from countless novels.
She rubbed my chin like a puppy and added.
"I get it. Plenty. But you can't just vent your lust on anyone."
Her domineering gaze pierced my entire body.
"From now on, I'll help you. Satisfy you for life."
The creepy phrases I'd seen right before my doom in past loops.
They floated up endlessly in the air.
Thanks to them, I barely clung to my fading senses amid her overwhelming aura.
I forced open my locked throat.
With the mental fortitude honed through countless regressions, I finally reached out.
And whispered to the saintess.
In a voice more vile and vicious than anyone's.
"You sure about that?"
An unexpected response—she froze solid this time.
The python body she thought she'd fully ensnared...
Was merely a small part of it.
"That I asked someone else to satisfy my lust?"
The woman smirking like a sly white flower serpent gazed up at me blankly.
As if realizing she'd just been happily clutching the tail of a massive python.
"You sure you're committing this rudeness to me right now, Anje Renault?"
"......"
I heard her gulp deeply.
Regaining her composure, she emanated a heavy aura again.
"Of course. I don't act without certainty."
"Did you see it? Me lusting after someone?"
Shaking off the killing intent, I pressed her relentlessly.
I pinned her against the wall, looming over her domineeringly.
"Do I seem that shallow to you?"
"What if I did see?"
The saintess, hemmed in by my broad shoulders.
Her wary eyes softened before I knew it.
"Wanna bet? Whether I did or not."
"Hah. That confident? Gambling against me?"
"Not gambling. My victory's certain."
"Guess you just turned 22 and don't get it. The world's full of eyes on you."
What does she have to be so cocky about? Her expression said.
Hand on her chest, she averted her gaze briefly.
"If I'm proven innocent, you'll grant my wish."
"Fine. But if I win, it won't end at posing as a model."
Anje was convinced she'd win anyway.
She warned with a savage smile.
"Heard the prison basement's mostly restored. I'll lock you there forever."
The saintess who should embody holiness bit her index finger lewdly.
Like practicing injecting venom into a favored mate.
"Our prisoner-warden roles will swap from now on."
She drew a bloody holy symbol in the air with her finger.
A contract spell of sorts.
"Break the promise, and you'll vomit blood and die. Confident?"
"Deal."
I seized her arm roughly.
Solemn, like a warden disciplining a prisoner.
"Now, read my memories. You'll accept it since you're seeing it yourself."
"......Yeah? I guess."
Anje tilted her head slightly.
She always charged ahead once decided.
Brainwashing what she disliked.
Killing what wasn't worth it.
Yet this man before her always surpassed her assumptions by leaps.
'Did I misjudge?'
Anje meticulously recalled the scene she'd seen as a crow.
It was definitely Vice Warden Clea's house.
Made her crouch between his legs.
In shameless maid attire too.
'Clea's not the type to do that.'
Her eyes had been mortified.
No matter how she looked, it was clear obedience under duress.
"Hah, fine."
In the end, the warden's current demeanor was just provocation from feigned innocence.
"I'll praise that boldness, but......"
Steeling herself, Anje reached out to me.
With regal poise.
"Think you can look down on me like that after today?"
Once imprisoned underground, she'd make him gaze up forever.
"Show me. Your filthy desires."
"Come on in."
Anje confidently injected red mana into my head.
Then began reading yesterday's memories.
"Hmm―. Sneaking into a woman's room, as expected."
Suspicious from the start, she smirked.
Like an owner peering down at a pet caught red-handed.
"Yeah, order the vice warden into a maid outfit once inside?"
Anje muttered calmly.
But the moment my view met Clea's first appearance.
"Wha......? Why's she already in the maid outfit the second I enter......"
Completely caught off guard by the unexpected development, she was speechless.
Next, the crouched position between the legs appeared.
But what she'd licked off was just whipped cream dessert.
It was all Clea's own choice.
"......"
Me, having my memories read, stared steadily at Anje.
With the sinister expression only a Minster could wear.
"......"
The silence from her instead.
I relit the lantern.
Revealing the face of the freshly 22-year-old woman drenched in cold sweat.
"You lost the bet, Anje Renault?"
I gazed coldly down at her pinned against the wall.
With the eyes of a warden about to administer punishment.
"Time for your penalty, then?"
The world-ending catastrophe who'd only ever oppressed and brainwashed others.
Now lightly touched under the chin by a mere mid-level Expert.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
A first-time pounding in her heart.
Her usually icy composure cracked as her heartbeat echoed.
"You said it yourself. Loser grants the wish."
The apocalypse that doomed the world faltered for the first time.