Chapter 225: Trouble Counseling? Career Counseling?

When the weekend came, there were things Karina had to do.

Gathering her friends early in the morning to fill her self-esteem, or going out to walk the Royal Road of the capital to interact with various members of the upper class and flaunt her influence were those very things.

But today was different.

A peaceful weekend morning like any other.

Normally, Karina, who should have woken up early, washed, put on the outfit she had chosen the night before, dressed up, and gone out, was still sprawled out on her bed even though the sun was high in the sky.

Hollow eyes.

A face smeared with annoyance and fatigue.

If she laid her head slightly to the side, fragments of memories and thoughts would come rushing in to make a mess of her mind.

“……I’m sleepy. But I can’t sleep.”

She had fallen into insomnia.

Completely.

Karina let out a deep sigh.

“I’m getting pissed off, seriously.”

The reason was, of course, because of the recent extracurricular activity.

In fact, even before that—from the time she was running around trying to find Rachel (as she knew her then), who had been forcibly dragged away by the hand of Skull Mask—there had been signs of insomnia.

Still, she didn’t care much back then because she thought it would be resolved once she found Rachel.

And yet.

The extracurricular activity she went on unexpectedly. And there, encountering Rachel out of the blue.

At first, absurdity, and then welcome took precedence.

But at Rachel’s changed attitude and her shocking confession, Karina had to feel both embarrassment and anger at the same time.

“……She was a villain from the start?”

Thinking about the conversation they had shared inside the cabin, she was still dizzy.

However, she couldn’t just wait forever for sleep that wouldn’t come.

Even if she did manage to fall asleep somehow, her days and nights might get flipped, so Karina got up from the bed and forcibly woke herself up with cold water.

Then she opened the door and spread out the Royal Dream that must have arrived this dawn.

There were no particularly big news stories.

Until a few days ago, it had been full of articles about the Shadow, but that topicality seemed to have cooled down now.

Still, as if trying to squeeze the last drop of essence out of a dried squid, there was an article at the end of the page summarizing a citizen’s interview about the Shadow.

“What? Are they crazy? Calling this trash an article.”

As she read through it, Karina crumpled the daily newspaper she was holding and shoved it into the trash can.

It was hard to believe.

They were all reactions praising the Shadow, such as saying they looked forward to their next move, or that they were better than thieves who only did useless things or mages who only talked.

Among them, the answer of one intellectual was especially stuck in her mind.

[Was the Shadow a thief in the old days? Are they still thieves now? Ah, stealing things from the Cathedral? That’s a bad thing. But didn’t they say they used that item to kill a demon? Then is that theft? No. That is a grand-scale judgment. To be blunt, what has any other government institution done for us…….]

An interview where the intention to criticize the Royal policies while pretending to praise the Shadow was clearly visible.

However, Karina saw Rachel’s image in that intellectual’s answer.

‘Don’t generalize. It’s true the Shadow is a group of villains, but you can’t say they’re all trash who deserve to die. In the first place, who is it that decides that? Aren’t they people just like us?’

Karina could not answer that question properly.

To be precise, it was more accurate to say she avoided it.

Rachel’s question was a direct denial of the raison d’être and identity of the current Royal judicial system and the institutions that enforce it.

If you think about it, Rachel’s words weren’t wrong.

After all, the laws and justice of the Empire were also created by people.

Naturally, there are gaps and mistakes.

In other words, it is not perfect.

However, as a member of the Zain Family, which enforces the law at the very forefront, Karina needed to ignore such imperfections.

Not doubting justice. That is the posture of one who judges evil.

Karina had learned and grown up that way.

“…….”

To cool her still heavy head, Karina left the dormitory.

Where should she go?

The Lodge Café?

She didn’t particularly have an appetite.

There was nothing like training to clear one’s head.

Since it was the weekend, there would be many people at the training hall.

Just as she was turning her steps toward the training hall, thinking it would be better to be swept away by the bustle.

“Where are you going with a face that looks like it’s about to die?”

She heard a welcome voice.

“……!”

There stood Gerard.

Color returned to Karina’s face.

But only for a moment; Karina quickly whipped her head away and spoke coldly.

“……Hmph. What business is it of yours where I go?”

“That’s true too. Okay, then go on.”

Wait, this wasn’t it.

Karina quickly grabbed him.

“Wa, wait a minute. What’s the big rush?”

“There’s no rush. Didn’t you tell me to get lost because you’re in a bad mood?”

“Is that nonsense……? I didn’t say it that far, did I?”

“Your face said exactly that. So? Where are you going?”

“The training hall. But it doesn’t particularly matter.”

“Hmm. Is that so.”

Gerard nodded as if he understood.

“Then let’s talk a bit while walking.”

And so, the two ended up walking through the campus.

An awkward silence hung between them, and Karina felt even more awkward as she realized it was the first time the two of them were walking like this.

‘Where should I even start speaking from?’

Honestly pouring out her worries to someone else was not something Karina was used to.

Then Gerard asked first.

“Is it because of Rachel?”

Karina was struck at the core.

She gave a slight flinch of her shoulders and then nodded.

“What do you want to do about it?”

“It’s not that I want to do anything in particular. It’s just that my thoughts aren’t organized. I don’t understand her way of thinking, either.”

“What is it that you don’t understand?”

Karina furrowed her brow.

“Then do you understand?”

“I mean, what?”

A small sigh.

She soon swept back her hair with a face full of annoyance.

“The words saying the Shadow isn’t a villain group.”

“Ah.”

“What do you think? Do you understand those words?”

“I’m not so sure.”

In an instant, Karina became blank like a person hit on the back of the head with a hammer.

“……Eh? You, you don’t know?”

“Yeah.”

Karina had never imagined that Gerard would say such a thing.

After all, at this point, the cadet who was raising the status of the Academy and enjoying the highest value was none other than Gerard.

The model of a hero cadet.

And yet, for such a person’s mouth to produce that kind of answer.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Because I’m a villain too. Shadow.”

A bombshell declaration.

Karina stared at him blankly and then asked.

“……Do you want to die?”

“No.”

“Do you think I’ll believe those words?”

“Sorry. It was a joke.”

“I’m already pissed off enough to die, damn it.”

Karina’s fists trembled.

“Fufu. Anyway, what I want to say is this. Does that matter? Let’s say I’m a thief who infiltrated the Academy? Meaning all those things you suspected me of in the past were true.”

“…….”

“Don’t glare and just listen, will you.”

“……Fine. I’ll allow it.”

That was Gerard’s point.

If he were a thief who had infiltrated the Academy, would the actions he had taken so far to protect the Academy and for the Empire be good deeds or evil deeds?

Villains are criminals who only commit evil acts and disturb society in anyone’s eyes.

In the end, it was the same kind of assumption as Rachel’s question and the citizen’s interview.

“That’s a meaningless assumption. In the first place, you aren’t a thief, so do you think a thief would take such actions?”

“Did you forget the War of Villains?”

“Correction. They might do it. But there must have been some benefit for them. I think the mindset is what’s important.”

At Karina’s vague answer, Gerard gave a small laugh.

“Originally, people see what they want to see and try to interpret things to their own taste. But humans are complex beings to be judged by just good and evil alone. There are probably a huge number of people who were sacrificed because of the unfair false charge of being a villain.”

Karina snorted.

“Even so, they would be a minority.”

“If that is the justice Zain speaks of, there’s nothing I can do, but I think the human rights of the minority are also important?”

Karina’s steps came to a halt.

She looked up at Gerard.

“So what is it you want to say? That the Zain Family is too arrogant? In the end, do you want to insult my family?”

“Why are you listening so crookedly?”

Gerard continued his words.

“What I want to say is, don’t be too tied down by the name of Zain. Whether others call you a villain or not, is there a need to particularly care? It’s better to judge by your own criteria.”

Suddenly, Karina recalled the conversation she had shared with Yuria the night before.

At that time, Yuria had said this.

‘I’m just trying not to care. Whether the Shadow is a villain or what, it’s all just criteria and evaluations that others are blabbing about. Also, in reality, it’s the opposite, and those claiming that are only the nobles…… Of course, their evaluation might be right. But, I trust Rachel.’

Until yesterday, she had considered it a very easy-going thought.

Strangely, when she thought about it along with the words of Gerard before her eyes, she felt like she understood.

‘Don’t be tied down by the name of Zain.’

By my own criteria.

It felt like the lump of lead that had been stiflingly pressing down on her chest had gone down.

“So? Are you telling me to leave the family or something?”

“I didn’t say that, but well, wouldn’t that also be your choice?”

Seeing Gerard shrugging his shoulders, Karina turned up the corners of her mouth.

“Seriously. What nonsense. Well, your specialty is nonsense. To think I poured out my worries to such a person, I’m a fool, a fool.”

“……For saying that, your expression looks much brighter than earlier.”

“Ah, um. I’m hungry. I should go eat.”

Ignoring Gerard’s words, Karina turned her steps toward the restaurant district.

It was when Gerard was watching her back with a strange gaze.

“What are you doing? Not following quickly?”

Gerard tilted his head.

“Eh? You want me to go with you too?”

“A natural thing to say. I hate eating alone.”

Thanks to that, Gerard ended up eating lunch twice that day.

***

I visited the personnel office to apply for an outing.

The reason for the outing is a ‘field trip.’

The destination is the western city, Binhawk.

Right.

Binhawk was the place Evan had mentioned.

He told me to go find a mysterious person who wears a face mask and has strong martial power despite not using an aura sword.

At the time, I suspected that person was the First Seat of the Shadow, Yugen.

As far as I knew, he was the only one who satisfied all the conditions Evan mentioned.

I shared this fact with Luis first, and Luis was ready to leave at any moment as soon as he heard it.

It was natural.

Because Yugen was Luis’s master.

But I barely stopped him.

If Luis, who manages all the Shadow’s internal affairs, leaves his post, there is no one to fill that void.

Also, back then, it was just before the final evaluation where my death flag would occur.

‘So I decided to go during the vacation.’

But well, from the War of Villains to the demon’s attack.

As I kept pushing back the work due to various things, it had somehow become the present.

The second semester is about to start.

If not now, I don’t know when I’ll be able to make time.

Luis is slowly giving me hints, asking when I’m going to go.

I felt like if I delayed it any further, Luis would leave after leaving just a single note.

If that happened, the Lunatic would be a major disaster.

Everything would be paralyzed to the point that the others—at the very least, even Mr. Parnaci—were giving me hints to go quickly, so I ended up leaving like this.

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