Chapter 231: Before the Next Stage

“How was the delivery?”

“Went fine. I ran into an inquisitor on the way, though. He was more annoying than dangerous.”

“Right, that reminds me… about the Headmaster’s letter.”

“What about it?”

Evelina sighed and gave my shoulder a light tap. “Let’s talk somewhere more comfortable.”

[Dark Step]

In a blink, we were standing in the study. The Headmaster’s letter was already laid out on the desk, waiting for me. I picked it up and skimmed through it.

It was… interesting, to say the least. Apparently, they wanted to send us back to the Academy earlier than planned because of the inquisitors.

The royal family had even been notified ahead of time.

Right now, it looked like the Academy didn’t want any students getting dragged into whatever fight the inquisitors were about to start.

Unfortunately for them…

The fight they were looking for had already been finished by me.

But no one needed to know that.

So I guess we’ll just play along for now.

“Cael…”

[Dark Manipulation]

[Light Manipulation]

Darkness swallowed the room as Evelina wove her magic, then overlaid illusions on the windows so it looked completely normal from the outside. No one would be able to listen in or notice anything was wrong.

“Do you really think this new pet of yours is stable?” she asked.

Evelina crossed her legs and leaned back, watching me closely.

So she hadn’t just decided to blindly accept the fact that I’d enslaved a memory-erasing creature while she was asleep.

“The contract makes sure of it,” I said. “The only problems it might cause are the usual drawbacks. Nothing crazy.”

“Really? Something that strong, and you’re calling the drawbacks ’usual’?” Her brow arched. “Confident.”

“It’s a good contract.”

Evelina smirked. She knew the broad strokes of the deal from the succubus’s shared memories, but she clearly hadn’t bothered going through every detail.

She’d trusted me to handle it.

“Well,” she said, “I guess I was right to ignore the giant, obvious, memory-devouring elephant in the room.”

“Y’know…” I started.

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you act more surprised when I called you, Evelyn?”

Evelina froze for a second, searching my face to see if I was joking. One moment we were talking about dangerous creatures and contracts, and the next I was bringing up something like that.

But as usual, all she found was the same unhinged me.

I’m honestly kind of proud of that.

“Well,” she said slowly, “it’s hard to be flustered when I already knew it was going to happen.”

Right… memory reading.

“You really should stop reading everything in advance… kind of ruins the whole ’surprise’ thing.”

“Hmm… I’ll think about it,” she replied. “But wouldn’t it be more fun for you to come up with something that can catch me off guard even with my memory reading?”

Oh? Is that a challenge I hear?

“Good point,” I said. “I’ll think about it.”

***

Once we wrapped up our little talk, I headed to the backyard of the mansion. The trucks were already parked there, lined up in neat rows. Workers moved back and forth, unloading the units and fitting them with their assigned rifles.

Evelina wanted every unit tested before we replied to Azrael’s letter.

I was definitely going to miss this life…

Well… that might be an exaggeration.

Once the inquisitor business and the exams were over, we’d just go back here and pretend everything was normal again.

Honestly, a short break back at the Academy didn’t sound so bad. Going back to the place where I first bonded with Evelina would be a good change of pace.

“Everything’s ready, my lord.”

One of the workers approached, clutching a ledger.

“Sign here, please.”

Right. Even if we’d picked up these units in a… less-than-legal way, we still had to make it look legal. Paperwork, fake logs, the whole package. The last thing we needed was the Academy or the inner district catching wind of Evelina and the D’Arclights pulling the strings behind the empire’s biggest manufacturing company.

Hiding the real reach of the D’Arclights across the empire was the top priority.

“How do I turn them on?” I asked as I signed, watching him hand the ledger off to a more bookish-looking colleague.

“They respond to adaptive voice commands, my lord. Here.” He passed me a manual.

The cover looked perfectly ordinary, just like any manual for operating high-end units. But once I flipped to the first page, I realized this one was different.

It had been specially translated by Benedict himself, complete with a handwritten note explaining that he’d made it as simple as possible to understand.

That man…

He really was devoted.

He’d definitely earned a spot in my good graces.

“Umm, my lord?”

“Yeah?”

I’d assumed they’d be heading out by now.

“Could we… perhaps borrow at least three units?”

What…?

Oh. Right.

I was the one who brought them here.

Which meant on the way back, they’d pretty much be on their own.

Even if the delivery went smoothly and I didn’t have to step in, there was no guarantee the return trip would be just as quiet. This place was basically a den of sin and corruption, after all.

But still, three whole units were a lot to send out.

But…

That could still work to my advantage.

If anything happened on the way back, the units would be able to deal with trouble quickly. I could just think of it as sending out a patrol—with trucks.

Taking care of any problems on the road ahead of time, just in case I ran into them later.

“Very well,” I said.

“T-thank you, my lord! We’ll return them as soon as the next batch is finished.”

“Yeah, yeah… just get going.”

I’m not against ’charity’ if it benefits me somehow. Just like with the slaves I freed back in the Cold Iron District. Good deeds have a way of paying off later.

Actually… gross.

Now I’m starting to sound like some kind of hero.

“Whatever,” I muttered. “I should start testing the new units.”

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