The King of Scrap Metal
The name suited Cardo perfectly. He was the King of Scrap Metal, a man who possessed a unique magic that let him manipulate iron, and someone with the grand ambition of becoming the ruler of the underworld.
But the throne he truly longed for, and the crown he wanted to wear upon his head, had never been a dirty lump of scrap. It was supposed to be adorned with shining jewels.
“I have to… get out of there… The smell of blood… won’t go away…”
The name King of Scrap Metal was, in the end, perfectly fitting for a man who had spent his entire life buried in rusted, filthy iron.
“I plan to go independent with this opportunity.”
“Independent?”
“Yes. I’ve set up my own establishment. Not long ago, I took care of… pushed out one of my competitors.”
“So, Uncle, you’re not going to do bad things anymore?”
“Haha, young master Pih. It’s difficult to answer if you ask me like that. Especially with the young ladies and gentlemen of the ducal family present.”
Alto and Fria stared at him without lowering their guard even slightly. It felt like the air itself might stop. The ominous aura they had sensed from Foelta the previous day seemed like nothing more than a child’s tantrum compared to this genuine villain.
How can Eres and Pih talk to someone like this so casually?
What was worse, Pih had even brought tea while preparing dinner. Why were these two so friendly with such a wicked person?
In truth, there was a very clear answer to that question.
“Try living like a decent human being for once.”
“Young master Pih?!”
Splash.
Pih poured the freshly boiled water straight over Cardo’s head. Steam rose in thick curls, but Cardo blocked it with a thin sheet of iron he spread above himself. He hadn’t done it because he trusted the shield—he had simply hoped the water would burn him if it broke through.
“Haha, Lady Eres. Since things have turned out this way, I look forward to working with you in the—”
“Get lost.”
“Oh dear. I could be quite useful to you in many ways, you know? Taking care of the dirty work, for instance—”
“Get lost.”
“As uncompromising as ever. How truly regrettable.”
They were not close at all. Whenever Cardo visited, the atmosphere was always like this. The siblings maintained a consistent wall of wariness and contempt, while he mostly talked to himself.
“You came here to see Luke, didn’t you? You barely ever come inside. I don’t know exactly where he is either, so go find him yourself.”
“You want me to wander around the academy freely? That’s rather difficult given my status. The person who called me here and then disappeared is the one at fault.”
“Does that mean you don’t have to meet him?”
“For me, not meeting him is the better option.”
“I feel the same way about you.”
Even Luke’s badmouthing didn’t work on this man! The others, who had been watching nervously, finally relaxed after seeing this exchange. Yet at the same time—
Even a monster like him is wary of Luke…
The invisible wall between them and the absent person seemed to grow even higher.
Although Cardo claimed he had gone independent, he had still been Luke’s subordinate until recently. In reality, Cardo was the type of villain who hid a blade in his stomach and stabbed his superior in the back.
“May I speak seriously for a moment?”
“You’re going to talk even if I don’t want to hear it.”
“That’s true. What I want to say is… please be careful from now on.”
There was a saying that danger came when the narrow-eyed man opened his eyes fully. Cardo dropped the smile that had become habit during his harsh days as a low-ranking grunt and looked at Eres with a serious expression.
“Luke is a far more dangerous man than you think. I struggled desperately to escape him, but in the end, everything turned out exactly as he said it would.”
“Didn’t you say you went independent?”
“Yes. I reached the exact position he mentioned the first time he saw me.”
Cardo had grown stronger and become an executive of Nine’s Piece—the Black Knight. To be precise, after doing everything he possibly could, that was the only outcome he could achieve.
“Do you see the future or something?”
“Of course not. I’ve suspected it at times, but that’s not it. After all, he’s the kind of person who fails spectacularly when he does fail.”
“He does have a stupid side.”
“Yes. And that’s precisely why he’s even more terrifying.”
If he had been a cold, calculating genius who placed everything under a plan and manipulated others like chess pieces on a board—if he had simply been a lucky man, or merely someone with raw power—then perhaps it would have been easier to deal with.
But Luke was different. He had many weaknesses, his plans were all improvised, and he wasn’t particularly lucky either. What Cardo feared was not Luke’s strength. It was the opposite.
“He possesses obsession. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a grudge. He will use any means necessary to achieve the result he desires.”
“I know. That’s probably how he gained that kind of power.”
“Indeed. From such a young age… I have no idea what drives him to be like that. Sometimes it even looks like he’s under a compulsion that he must succeed.”
To save the world. To create a happy ending. A motive that no one else in the world knew. The root of that obsession. It was undoubtedly the right motive—and because it was right, it was dangerous.
“Please be careful. For now he has some leeway, so he isn’t making any big moves. But once that leeway disappears, there’s no telling what he might do.”
Cardo glanced at the three people sitting beside them—Alto, Fria, and Arte.
He would sacrifice the small for the greater good. In the face of the colossal goal of saving the world, Luke was the kind of human who could discard most things in this world. Even if that included Cardo himself—an important character from the original story—if Cardo deviated beyond what he could handle, he would be removed without hesitation.
It would have been better if Luke were someone skilled in planning and strategy, someone who could keep others in the palm of his hand. Then there would have been no need for such worries.
Unfortunately, he was the type who acted first and tried to fix things later. And in that correction process, if you didn’t walk into the place Luke wanted of your own accord, you would die.
The only exception to that rule was—
“Please be careful. You are the one he has poured his heart and soul into raising. And you are the only one who has defied his intentions and still survived.”
“I’m not the least bit grateful.”
To Luke, she was not one of the small pieces, but one of the great ones. His highest priority target. The person who had met Luke at the academy, thoroughly betrayed his expectations, and yet had been allowed to walk free. The fact that Eres was special to Luke had already been proven by that alone.
“I will say it again. Be careful. Those who oppose him will try to use you. They may already be using you.”
“Is that remark directed at us?”
“Who knows. It might not be.”
Alto and Fria had not approached her with that knowledge in mind, but it was true that there were many people who would. For now, only a few with excellent information networks knew about Eres, but as time passed, everyone would learn.
“Be suspicious of anyone who approaches you. Just because they are the enemy of your enemy does not mean they are necessarily your friend.”
“I’ll judge that for myself.”
“…As you wish. I will trust in your discernment, Lady Eres.”
Cardo narrowed his eyes once more and put on his usual greasy smile. He had said everything he wanted to say. He rose from his seat.
“I’ll take my leave now. The next time we meet, I will have no choice but to treat you as an enemy.”
Cardo knew exactly what role Luke wanted him to play. He had wanted to escape that role, but in the end, he had never been able to.
Ever since that miserable defeat six years ago at Luke’s hands, his life had slowly twisted. The future in which he became the King of Scrap Metal had already vanished.
The illusion of gold and silver treasures had disappeared, and he was left staring directly at the scrap metal that covered him.
“That’s a little unfortunate.”
“…Haha. I never imagined you would say something like that, Lady Eres.”
The idea of using Eres to strike at Luke was something he had thought of before anyone else. But Eres was far too pure a person. Anyone who tried to harm her would find their conscience placed upon an unbearably high scale.
Cardo had failed that test. That was all.
“One last piece of advice. Luke may seem sloppy, but he is not incompetent.”
“I know that too.”
“You probably don’t know it as well as I do.”
With those final words, Cardo left the dormitory. Just as he had appeared suddenly, he disappeared just as abruptly.
“Eres… what on earth was that guy?”
“Hmm… Luke’s subordinate. I don’t know the details either.”
“He came to monitor us on that person’s orders. He always covered his face, so this was the first time I saw it.”
“He was no ordinary person. To think he had someone like that as a subordinate…”
“I could barely even breathe…”
Eres and Pih were used to him because they had known him since childhood, but the aura Cardo gave off while on enemy territory had been too heavy for the other three to endure. Alto and Fria had at least managed to keep stiff expressions, but Arte could only break out in cold sweat.
“Haa… L-let’s talk about something else! That’s right! Eres, I brought some good information!”
Arte reached into her bag to change the suffocating atmosphere. She had brought information about the dungeon today. She had to share it with Eres too!
“…Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…It’s gone.”
Arte kept rummaging through her bag. She had definitely put it all the way in the back so it would be easy to find. No matter how much she searched, it wasn’t there.
“…Arte. Give me that bag for a second.”
“Huh? Here…”
Eres took the bag and reached all the way to the bottom. When she pulled her hand out, what she was holding was—
“A piece of paper?”
“It was torn apart with iron.”
“Then… that guy from earlier? Why?”
“Probably because whatever was written on this paper was the problem. What was on it?”
“It was a dungeon that Professor Nuo told me about…”
Anyone who wasn’t a fool would have realized it. That there was something in that dungeon. They didn’t know exactly what Cardo’s intention was, but it was clear he had done this either to warn them or to prevent the information from falling into someone else’s hands.
“What should we do…? Should we not go to the dungeon?”
“Before that—Arte, you’re the one who wrote the contents of that document, right?”
“Yes. I took notes on what the professor said. I remember everything.”
“Good. Then could you write it down again?”
“Pardon?”
Asking her to recreate a document that had been destroyed for being dangerous—Arte was horrified, but Alto and Fria looked deadly serious.
“Fria. Go help her.”
“Don’t worry. Arte, would it be all right if I stopped by your room today? There are some preparations I need to make.”
“It’s fine, but… what are you planning to do?”
“A security check.”
Episode 2 Boss — Foelta Alais has been neutralized.
The acquisition of the magic sword will allow for a period of safe activity.
“Master, today you wasted yet another useless amount of—Master!”
“Ack, you scared me! What? What is it!”
I had been diligently working when the usually apathetic maid suddenly covered her mouth and teared up.
“Master… I thought you were only fooling around until a week before midterms, but you’re finally studying…”
“Studying?”
“I don’t even remember the last time I saw you holding paper and a pen… What subject is it? Seeing you look at a map, it must be about territory management—”
“It’s a map of the female dormitory, though?”
“……”
Since I put it in my bag, I’d definitely take it to the dormitory, right? I didn’t know about the male dormitory, but I knew the female one well. In the game, if Eres wanted to wander around at night, she had to sneak past the guards. I had already written down everything I remembered right after possessing this body, but I was redrawing it on a large sheet of paper to review my memory.
“…What exactly are you planning to use that for?”
“I’m going to sneak into Arte’s room.”
“Ah… I see.”
Since I had the Episode 2 boss Foelta in the palm of my hand, all I needed was to secure the magic sword and I could relax for a while. For that purpose, breaking into the dormitory was nothing.
“Look here. This red line is the route to Arte’s room, and this blue line is the management office route. I wrote down the times next to them. You must not deviate from these times.”
“Wow… you’re incredibly detailed…?”
“Of course. It’s important. First, I’ll go to the management office to secure a spare key, leave a fake one in its place, then break into the room when Arte is asleep.”
“While she’s sleeping… what are you going to do after you go in…?”
“Just take a look and come back. I won’t steal anything.”
If I took the document with me, they’d realize someone had touched it. I just needed to look at it, copy down the information, and leave. That said, this was a perfect infiltration route. Was it only natural since I had done it dozens of times in the game? Still, I should check over the next few days to confirm the information was still the same—
“Mel? What are you doing? Why are you tearing up the map I made…”
“It’s time to throw out the trash.”
“What! You’re tearing up the map I worked so hard to draw—”
“I can’t possibly throw Master away.”
“…Mel?”
“…Ha. I don’t understand what men find so appealing about those lumps of flesh.”
Mel stroked her own chest with a terrifying expression. Well, both Mel and Eres were extremely thin. Why? I was sure I had fed them nutritious food. But… the atmosphere felt strange. Could she be misunderstanding something?
“Mel, it’s a misunderstanding. I’m not doing this to do something to Arte. I have absolutely no lewd thoughts—”
“You’re making a plan to break into the female dormitory and sneak into a sleeping girl’s room, and you say that?”
“No, that’s… she has something I need…”
“Ha… I thought you were finally studying a bit. If you’re not here to see your sister and you’re not studying, then why did you even come to the academy… Oh, right. You originally came here to meet women, so I suppose you’re just being true to your purpose?”
“……”
For some reason, my stomach area started to hurt. I really didn’t want to, but… maybe I should actually study a little…?
**
“…Why did you come here today?”
And so time passed, and midterms arrived. Luke, who had stopped training for a single week and devoted himself entirely to studying, scored—
“Instinctively.”
“What kind of instinct makes you hide in a closet?”
An average of 62 points. He was vaguely in the middle ranks.