Chapter 147: Decision

In the crucial moment of trying to apprehend the Skull Mask, a black fog suddenly spewed out and swallowed the area.

The scene soon descended into chaos.

“Cough! Cough! What is this all of a sudden!”

“Enemy! Another enemy has broken in! Don’t panic and hold your positions!”

The Guard Captain shouted.

“Professors. Please do something about this damn smoke first.”

“Hold on. We’re already on it.”

A few professors from the Psychology Department hurriedly summoned wind-attribute magic or spirits to clear the fog obscuring their vision.

They were the ones who had not taken their eyes off the Skull Mask from beginning to end.

So they were able to witness it.

Just before the smoke erupted, a single shadow had blocked the Skull Mask’s path.

‘It’s clearly the Skull Mask’s accomplice.’

This fog must also be the work of that accomplice.

In that case, there is only one objective.

To let the Skull Mask escape.

“Do not move from your positions!”

The Guard Captain gave the order once again and waited for the smoke to clear.

However.

“……Huu.”

The Guard Captain, who saw the place revealed after the smoke had cleared, let out a frustrated sigh.

The Skull Mask had already disappeared from that spot.

***

Amidst the billowing smoke, I heard a voice.

“I came to help.”

It was a familiar voice, so the name immediately came to mind.

No, I had already known of her presence even before she revealed herself.

Rachel.

“Now we’re getting out of here.”

She said, taking my hand.

“……How?”

She did not answer my question.

I felt a faint vibration from the fingertips of her clasped hand.

It seemed she was doing something with her other hand.

There was no way to confirm.

Because we were surrounded by black smoke, and I couldn’t distinguish even an inch in front of me.

Thanks to that, the Academy side seemed to be in chaos.

But it was the same for us, with our vision blocked.

‘Soot bomb.’

An item of the Darkness Council.

Although its effect was outstanding like this, it was also an item with a clear drawback.

‘The smoke is light, so it blows away quickly.’

It was literally for a very brief moment of visual obstruction.

So I was curious.

What was Rachel’s method?

The question was soon answered.

Jjiiik!

There was a sound of something being torn.

A small flash of light and a momentary, violent movement of mana.

I felt a sense of floating and my body spinning.

“……”

I opened my eyes.

Before I knew it, I was standing in a dark alley.

It wasn’t the Academy.

This place was,

‘……Icata.’

I looked at Rachel next to me.

She was kneeling on one knee, holding her head.

She spits out the piece of scroll she was holding in her mouth and mutters.

“My head hurts like crazy. Damn it.”

“Multiple spatial leaps?”

“That’s right. It’s super expensive. Ah! I guess you already know?”

Is it just expensive?

A scroll with a multiple spatial leap inscribed on it was an item that only a Mage could make, so it was something that ordinary people couldn’t even dare to dream of.

“I only had one too……”

Rachel, who trailed off her words, smiles and looks up at me.

‘I used it especially because it was you.’

Her expression seemed to be saying this.

“……”

I looked down at her and then pulled her up by the hand I was still holding.

Rachel had risked danger and loss to save me, which was certainly something to be grateful for.

But she had her own purpose and intention in this.

And right now, I had a more important problem than such things.

I had to confirm that first, through her.

“Did you know?”

Rachel, who was still turning her body here and there as if she hadn’t recovered from the aftereffects of the spatial leap, tilts her head.

“Hmm? What about?”

“The cult’s betrayal.”

“Aah. No?”

I stared at Rachel for a moment.

“What, are you doubting me right now? I just chose you, risking my life.”

I nodded my head.

She was right.

Rachel had taken me out in front of everyone.

This incident would be reported to the cult immediately and the cult might find out that it was Rachel who had interfered with their work.

In other words, Rachel had saved me, even taking the risk of being exposed.

Suddenly, I remembered the secret meeting I had with her before.

Was it a coincidence?

At that time too, it was a dark alley like this.

─‘Do you mean to test me?’

─‘That’s right. If I entrust a request to you and you fail, then I’ll be screwed. I can’t just waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like that, can I? When I’m sure about you, then I’ll entrust the request to you.’

At that time, she had spoken so cautiously, but now she had acted in the complete opposite way.

What did that mean?

‘It means she has become sure in her own way.’

She has completely decided her course of action towards me.

I could take it that way.

“I understand. I will trust you.”

“My goodness. Is that a problem to decide after thinking about it so much? Can’t you tell just by looking.”

I ignored her grumbling and asked.

“Did Guartes not know either?”

“Hmm. Probably so? That moron has less authority in the Academy’s operations than me.”

“……”

“But the cult’s atmosphere has been strange lately.”

“Explain in detail what happened.”

“I don’t know the details either. Because it was something they did as soon as they came down suddenly yesterday, without any explanation or consultation, and took command. They just said, ‘It’s an order from above’. But, normally, any terror carried out at the Academy is supposed to be shared with me, even if Guartes doesn’t know.”

“Because you’re the only spy planted by the Darkness Council.”

Rachel gives a sweet eye smile.

“Oh, that’s right. Thank you for recognizing that.”

“Just continue with the explanation. Stop playing around.”

“Tsk. No fun at all. Anyway, it’s strange that they didn’t even share the information with me, right? Isn’t it? So, well, I just observed the situation.”

“And then you helped me when I was in danger?”

“Yeah. You and me. We have a special relationship.”

Rachel suddenly presses her body against mine.

In that state, she stands on her tiptoes and stares into my eyes.

As if she was trying to look into the face inside the skull mask.

Then she pauses and whispers softly.

“……We’re partners who share an important secret, you know.”

She taps the finger she had placed on my chest.

I immediately pushed her away and turned my body.

“What. Where are you going all of a sudden?”

“Follow me.”

The place I headed was the Lunatic.

Ignoring Rachel’s nonsense about ‘I thought we were going to a hotel’, I opened the door of the Lunatic.

And I immediately sensed an unusual atmosphere.

The first thing I felt was the smell of blood at the tip of my nose.

……My heart sank.

The Lunatic was the only hideout for our Shadow, which we had painstakingly prepared.

The smell of blood in that place.

The first word that came to mind was ‘attack’.

‘Don’t tell me the cult is here too?’

It was something that could fully happen.

So I raised Raven and Rachel, who had also smelled the blood, followed me with a hardened face.

At the same time, we were ambushed.

Chaang!

I confirmed the opponent’s face beyond Raven and frowned.

The person who had attacked me was none other than Luis.

Luis also confirmed me and quickly withdrew his sword.

“……I apologize, Master. I thought they were the ones who followed me.”

The ones who followed him?

I was about to ask, but an urgent voice erupted from behind.

“L-Luis!”

It was Dayle.

Dayle, who had ambushed Rachel, was being counterattacked by her.

“Stop it, Rachel. That person is my subordinate.”

Rachel, who had stopped her sword, finally confirms Dayle and her eyes widen.

“Ah. It’s that bratty thief I saved back then.”

“Huk. Heok. What k-kind of nonsense is this? Who the hell is this girl, boss?”

Dayle asked.

Luis probably knew from hearing the name, but he also seemed curious.

He looks at me with a gaze that says, why did you bring her here.

However, I was first.

It wasn’t that, but Luis’s attire was a mess, just like mine.

And his remark just now about thinking it was his pursuers.

And what was this smell of blood coming from inside?

When I looked at Luis with eyes demanding an explanation, he opened his mouth with a tragic expression.

“……We were attacked by the cult.”

In the end, my face, which had maintained a poker face until now, was miserably crumpled.

***

I approached the bed.

There, a man covered in blood was lying.

Whether he had sensed my presence, his slightly open eyes stared at me.

Soon, a single smile appears on his lips.

“Y-you’ve come, Master.”

He was Guartes.

“Guartes.”

I had already heard the situation.

Luis, who had gone to the meeting place as usual at the cult’s call.

But it wasn’t just Guartes there.

There were people he had never seen before, and Luis was immediately attacked.

Right.

It was a trap set by the cult.

‘If it weren’t for Guartes help…….’

The reason Luis was able to escape from that trap was thanks to the unexpected help of Guartes.

Why Guartes had betrayed the cult at a crucial moment and risked his life to help Luis.

That was unknown.

But that kind of thing didn’t matter.

What was important was that Guartes had helped our Shadow.

“Thank you, Guartes.”

“I’m…… I’m sorry.”

Tears streamed from Guartes’s eyes.

“Already. I already knew. That they were going to betray you, Master…… I was so scared…… scared and afraid…… keoheok!”

A gush of blood spurted out, soaking the blanket.

The bed was already soaked with the blood and sweat that Guartes had shed.

I took Guartes’s hand.

I could feel a tremendous tremor through his fingertips.

Guartes was currently enduring extreme pain.

“Dayle. Quickly, a doctor.”

“N-no. Keuhak. It’s…… no use, M-Master. I was hit by a curse.”

Tightly, the grip of Guartes’s hand, holding mine, tightens.

“I was so. scared…… Please, forgive me……!”

“I know. I understand. I will forgive you, so don’t say any more.”

“……Ha…… haha. That’s a relief…… thank you.”

A smile formed on Guartes’s face again.

“I…… wanted to follow you.”

I could feel the intense tremor gradually subside.

“You, who fulfilled my lifelong wish……”

Slowly, Guartes’s eyes closed.

The tremor had completely stopped.

I look down at Guartes, who has fallen into a deep sleep.

With a smile on his lips, he looked extremely peaceful.

A question arose.

What on earth was the lifelong wish that I had fulfilled?

I wanted to ask, but I can’t ask anymore.

I carefully put Guartes’s hand down and straightened my back.

“Master.”

“……Boss.”

My heart felt empty, as if it were hollow.

I felt no emotion.

My head was the same.

I couldn’t think of anything.

However, I know what I have to do now.

“Rachel.”

“Uh. Uh……?”

“The words you said before, that we have a special relationship. Is that still valid?”

“Th-of course it is. I have nowhere to go back to now.”

“Then, help me from now on. There’s something you have to do.”

“……What on earth are you going to do?”

Looking at Rachel, who asked cautiously, I answered in a short but clear voice.

“War.”

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