Chapter 204: Reina (1)

Honestly, it sucks.

In a way, I, the victim, am resolving the very cause that made me like this with my own hands.

Why does the victim have to clean up the mess instead?

‘Dimensional Administrators, these bastards.’

Continued existence?

Survival?

That’s their problem, and I don’t know who proposed making the Dimensional Pillar, but I vowed to find them and collect the debt no matter what.

Anyway, postponing that problem for later.

In any case, as long as I received the request from Uriel, the Dimensional Pillar had to be destroyed.

The annoying issue was still the personnel.

Four people besides me.

Coincidentally, Shadow’s current quota is exactly four: Luis, Dayle, Clatter, and Evan.

Among these, excluding Clatter, there isn’t anyone I can consider ‘This one is certain.’

‘Ah. Evan’s skills are certain, of course. But I don’t know when he’ll return to Icata.’

Anyway, the best method I can take right now is to train Luis and Dayle to the point where they can deal with a Forest Keeper within half a year.

Since Luis is a guy with so much venom, I think he can do it, but I don’t know if it’s possible for Dayle.

Because his abilities themselves are concentrated in support positions like magic neutralization + equipment repair and development.

‘I don’t know. If at least Evan were here, it feels like some answer would come out.’

At times like this, Evan, who possesses a lot of experience from his long mercenary life, was desperately needed.

Damn it.

Since it’s a bereavement leave for his parents, I can’t even tell him to return quickly.

‘Please come back quickly.’

For now, I thought it would be best to go to Lunatic, sit Dayle and Luis down, and discuss this part again.

I stopped running and sat on a bench for a moment.

“Phew.”

I wipe the sweat flowing on my face and lean my body against the backrest.

Finally, I rethink Roland’s answer to the question I was most curious about and personally considered most important.

When everything is resolved.

Meaning, when the Great Demon Angmar is exorcised according to the original ending, the Dimensional Pillar is destroyed, and stability returns to the world,

Can I return to Earth again?

Roland’s answer to this was ‘Unknown.’

That problem can only be known if I ask Uriel myself.

I asked about other things besides this, but it was the same.

‘I am merely a servant following Lady Uriel. I am sorry for not being able to give you a clear answer.’

Instead, Roland told me a method to converse directly with Uriel.

She is praying at a shrine where her angel statue is erected, but that shrine was also inside the Varje Holy Kingdom.

Ultimately, I was walking in place; there were hardly any questions that were refreshingly resolved.

Rather, questions only increased because of the statement that Shadow handled the first Dimensional Pillar that was erected.

‘Don’t tell me. Is that why the ‘Fall of the Moon’ happened, because we incurred the wrath of the Dimensional Administrators……?’

I don’t know.

What kind of event happened to them in the first place that an object called the Dimensional Pillar became necessary?

‘Sigh. Let’s find a way to resolve the request first.’

I visited Lunatic as soon as it got dark.

***

Late at night, just past the turn of the day.

Luis, who was wiping cups perhaps having finished business a little while ago, discovered me first and acknowledged me.

“Ah. Master.”

“Work? Did it finish well?”

“Yes.”

“Sales?”

“They are coming out quite well.”

That’s a relief.

“I thought you would come immediately yesterday. Did something happen at the place you went to?”

Ah. I did say I would return after going to the Cathedral yesterday.

I forgot.

“It’s nothing big. More than that, where are the other kids?”

When I asked because Rachel and Dayle were not visible, Luis pointed downstairs and answered.

“They are in the liquor storage.”

“In Dayle’s workshop? What are they doing there?”

“Miss Reina has awakened.”

“Oh, really?”

Because there was no place to lay her down, we laid Reina in Dayle’s workshop and used it as a sickroom for a while.

“Would you like to go down?”

“I should.”

We went down below.

Opening the door and looking down, I saw a neatly organized workbench and a bed. And somehow, the heads of three people standing were visible.

‘Why is everyone standing?’

I thought she was lying down.

They didn’t even know we entered because they were focusing on something.

I was confused for a very brief moment about who was Rachel and who was Reina because only the crowns of their heads were visible, but I could immediately judge who was who.

“Aat!”

With a short scream, Reina, who was in the middle, collapsed onto the floor.

“Reina! Are you okay!?”

“Ye, yeah. I’m okay, Sis.”

Reina smiling hehe while looking up at Rachel.

Then, her eyes met mine, who was looking down at this scene from above.

“Ca, Captain?”

“…….”

Why does she also call me Captain?

***

The back-alley doctor Mr. Parnaci introduced was not a quack.

Reina really limped on her left leg.

Although she faced rapid bodily changes as the Seed of the Devil bloomed, she ground her body to an extent hard to handle, leaving a permanent disability.

Even Uriel’s flame, which healed other wounds, seemed unable to do anything about this.

Even so, Reina smiled brightly and bowed her head repeatedly, thanking me.

“I heard from Sis! That you tried incredibly hard to save me! Really. Thank you really!”

It was like seeing Rachel.

To be precise, it was like seeing the cadet version of Rachel.

‘Looking at it now, she was acting as her sister.’

Unlike Rachel, who had the gloom of the past remaining on her face and possessed an unknown darkness, maturity, and a chicness from experiencing all sorts of hardships, Reina was a woman with lively energy and unblemished clarity.

So Reina smiled even though her left leg became uncomfortable.

From her perspective, she woke up after losing consciousness for a long time only to find her body suddenly disabled, but she rather didn’t even care about such things and was purely happy just to meet her sister again.

Watching that scene, I made my own decision and turned around.

“So this is the confidential data Rachel mentioned.”

Coming up to the office, I saw the file folder Luis had placed on the desk.

I examine it page by page.

‘Bishop Lutus is harboring other intentions.’

He was so confident. It was certainly deserving.

This was information even I didn’t know.

Depending on how this is used, I could use it as a weapon to completely send Bishop Lutus away, or use it conversely to close another deal.

‘With this, Bishop Lutus will become much easier to target.’

Looking at the traced communication coordinates, it was the Royal Palace of the Frey Empire.

Then, is it a spy planted within the Empire?

‘First, finding out who he is communicating with would be the order.’

Anyway, Lutus is an entity with a large standing within the Cult, enough to be called Bishop Cristiano’s rival and selected as a commander for Raid the Academy.

Since she brought the weakness of such a guy, it could be said that Rachel showed results beyond what I expected from her.

Suddenly, the time I first met Rachel came to mind.

‘Back then, I didn’t know it would turn out like this.’

At first, I intended to just keep a moderate distance and use her.

But seeing how the relationship developed and turned out like this, indeed human affairs are something you can never know.

Knock knock!

It was then.

As if the saying ‘speak of the devil’ is true, Rachel’s voice came from outside along with the sound of knocking.

[It’s me, Skull Mask. I have something to say, can I come in?]

Something to say.

I organized my mind for a moment, then nodded.

“Come in.”

The door opened with a creak.

Soon, Rachel’s head popped out through the crack in the door.

“What were you doing?”

Instead of an answer, I fluttered the data I was holding in my hand.

“Huhu. As expected, you were looking at that.”

Rachel is sitting on the sofa and smiling broadly.

“How is it? Useful, right?”

A question overflowing with confidence like her laughter.

I had no choice but to acknowledge it.

“Yeah. Certainly, this was information I didn’t know either.”

“See that. I told you. Then I kept my promise, right?”

The promise seemed to refer to the price for saving Reina.

“So. Until when are you going to wear that face skin? It’s about time you took it off now. Since I’m also part of your family.”

Rachel speaks with a light laugh in a joking manner.

It was a voice with not a shred of distrust, taking it for granted.

“What do you mean? Family? You?”

So at this question of mine, a crack appeared on her expression.

“……Huh? I’m not?”

“Of course not. How are you, Shadow?”

Rachel blinked her eyes stupidly like a person who received a shock.

It seems she firmly believed so.

Then she bursts into laughter.

“……Puhaha. Ey. Don’t joke. Why are you like this? Or did you perhaps forget? I told you. If you save my sister, I would even bet my life for you. Now you and I have become inseparable. Aah- Perhaps because my charm ability disappeared. Did your mind change because of that?”

“Did your charm ability disappear?”

“It disappeared as Lilith died. Anyway, what? You didn’t know?”

Rachel tilted her head to the side.

While doing so, the laughter slowly disappearing from her lips seemed to indicate she was feeling that the atmosphere was turning strangely.

“I didn’t know.”

“Then…… It’s not because of that reason either? Really? Not a joke?”

Nod.

“Why? Am I unqualified perhaps? Is a separate entrance exam needed?”

“You are sufficiently qualified.”

“Then what on earth is it because of!”

Towards her shouting, I spit out the word that becomes the problem.

“Sister.”

“……What?”

“Sister. You said you had something to say. I knew all along that the content wasn’t about this secret, but about your sister. And I also intended to talk about that. About her dwelling.”

“……!”

“Take her and go. Far away to a place where no one can easily find you. Live there not with us, but with your sister.”

Rachel’s eyes looking at me filled with confusion.

“Why?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Both of your faces have already been published in Royal Dream once. That means it is impossible for you two to live here. Also, even if you live in hiding like us, we cannot be certain how long that brief peace will last.”

A thief’s life, like a candle in the wind.

To live here, one must become a thief like us, but I couldn’t force that upon Reina as well.

“B, but. I made a promise to you.”

Whether she knows my thoughts like this or not, Rachel kept saying frustrating things.

“Then what about your sister? Do you intend to leave her alone? She desperately needs you. You should know well, right?”

“…….”

“I will consider the payment settled with this data, so leave far away.”

“If I. Say I don’t want to?”

Don’t want to?

I looked at her with eyes that I couldn’t understand.

Confusion is still visible, but her eyes didn’t tremble as much as before.

‘She’s serious.’

Why doesn’t she want to?

Because she grew fond of us in the meantime?

Or, does she feel anxiety if she doesn’t belong somewhere now?

I don’t know, but for my part, I said it thinking of her and her sister. And Shadow’s situation as much as possible.

“……Think carefully while you are here. Where you should go.”

At my eviction order, Rachel looked at me for a moment, then stood up from her seat.

I let out a deep sigh.

Honestly speaking, it’s the same for me to feel regretful.

Since Rachel is a skilled thief.

Lilith died so her charm ability seems to have disappeared, but that doesn’t become a deduction factor at all for the person named Rachel.

Rachel’s most outstanding strength is her fiery drive and her unhesitating personality that rushes in like a moth to a flame even if it’s something considered impossible even if one died and woke up again.

Entering a group where the enemy who killed her sister is an executive and acting as the enemy’s adopted daughter for several years? It’s a mindset and determination difficult for an ordinary person to have.

Just because one is a thief doesn’t mean they all have to be cold and rational.

Sometimes recklessness is required, and at such times, there must also be boldness to charge without looking back.

‘And Rachel possesses all of this.’

In a way, she is the most suitable talent for a thief after Luis.

Especially now when I desperately feel the need for personnel reinforcement due to Uriel’s request, letting Rachel go feels incredibly wasteful.

However, a big weakness existed for her.

Precisely, her sister.

Like in Parnaci’s case, a civilian family member was bound to become a weakness someday.

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