Chapter 96: The Bead

“Crk.”

Fortunately, the knight captain in front of me was weaker than Paxen.

As expected, there was a significant gap in skill even among the Central Knights.

Well, that was only natural.

Even at the Academy, the cadets’ levels varied greatly.

Since the Central Knights were where they went after graduation, not everyone could be equally strong.

‘If you average out all the knight orders, the strongest ones are the Northern and Western Knights.’

Thanks to that, I had some breathing room.

I glanced around.

Dayle and Luis were holding their own in their fights.

“Hat! Hut! Hah!”

…No.

To be honest, Dayle wasn’t so much fighting as he was using [Dark Sprint] and [Ghost Step] to escape.

‘Still, he’s holding up well.’

The important thing was to hold out.

Just until Clatter took down Zad.

But as if waiting for that moment, the Academy kids moved to interfere with us.

“Attack!”

“Haaap!”

As if they’d held a strategy meeting, all the kids except the supposedly injured.

Rachel split up and charged at us.

Coming for me were Ivan and Yuria.

‘Damn it. Even you, Yuria…!’

This put me in a tough spot.

Both Ivan and Yuria were people I couldn’t fight seriously.

To hold out, I had no choice but to kill this knight captain.

‘…Damn it. No other way, huh.’

I wanted to avoid sacrifices on the Empire’s side to prevent a bad ending.

But in this situation, I had no options.

After all, my life was important.

Just before Ivan and Yuria reached me, I put strength into my sword to take down the knight captain.

“Krgh!”

His eyes widened at my sudden aggressive shift.

At the very least, I had to disable him from the battlefield, so I aimed to take an arm or a leg.

‘Now!’

That was when it happened.

“Everyone, stoooop──!”

Dayle’s voice echoed thunderously through the space.

“…!”

All eyes turned to him.

Dayle had retreated backward.

The knight chasing him had his legs frozen solid, clearly hit by Dayle’s surprise Frost Bullet.

“If you don’t want to die, look at my hand.”

And in Dayle’s hand, now free from combat──,

“….”

…was Azester’s Small Calamity.

No, it was a magical beast egg disguised as Azester’s Small Calamity.

“You know what this is, right?”

Karina and Bain quickly realized its nature.

“A, Azester’s Calamity!?”

“Valkron Azester…! Nobody moves!”

I magnified it with Focused Gaze.

The number was 10.

Luckily, number 10 was a lost number.

‘He’s not dumb enough to make the same mistake twice.’

No wonder he asked which of Azester’s Small Calamities had an unknown origin—he was planning this.

‘But… it seems to be working?’

Perhaps sensing something ominous from Karina and Bain’s expressions.

The cadets charging at us stopped, and so did the Central Knights.

“Azester’s Calamity… you mean the mana bomb created by Valkron Azester?”

At the Central Knight’s question, Karina looked at him.

From the way her lips moved, she seemed to be explaining with Magic and her expression hardened.

“Krhm.”

Swallowing a groan, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

This was working perfectly.

“Azester’s Small Calamity. If this goes off, not only this area but the entire Frey Academy campus will vanish from Icata.”

“B-But then you won’t survive either!”

“Damn it. Isn’t it all or nothing anyway? If we get caught by you, we’ll be locked up in Gidmog until we die, burned at the stake, or hanged. Better to blow ourselves up together, right? Huh?”

Shivering as if high on some drug, Dayle grinned like a madman.

He looked like he’d detonate the bomb with the slightest poke.

“Back off.”

“….”

“I said back off! All of you!”

“Listen! Get back!”

The Central Knights slowly retreated.

All but one.

Ivan stood unmoving.

Seeing that, Karina shouted.

“Ivaaan! Listen! You want your stubbornness to kill innocent civilians too?”

“….”

“If that thing goes off, half of Icata might be gone—!”

Finally, at Karina’s desperate yell, Ivan stepped back.

Innocent victims.

That phrase hit hard.

Ivan might lose his reason in rage against villains and magical beasts, but his core nature was absolute good.

The root of Ivan’s anger and hatred was his unwillingness to see powerless victims suffer.

“Ehehe. Good.”

Dayle laughed creepily.

Watching him, I barely held back a laugh.

‘Crazy bastard. His acting’s insane.’

I sent a Whisper to Luis.

[Luis. Back.]

Luis nodded.

We both retreated behind Dayle.

That was when it happened.

Tack──!

A sound came from behind.

I turned around.

Clatter, holding Zad’s head, was absorbing his thoughts.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!

No.

It wasn’t absorption.

A massive torrent of thoughts was pouring into Clatter’s body like a waterfall.

Tremble!

Was it the overwhelming volume of thoughts reaching a limit?

Clatter’s body bent like a bow and began trembling violently.

“What’s that?”

“S-Sir…!?”

“That looks dangerous.”

We were just as shocked.

“…M-Magello-sama.”

Luis muttered, dazed.

“Damn it. What the hell’s going on!?”

Dayle was panicking.

And I.

‘What do I do?’

I hesitated.

Cold sweat dripped from my clenched fist.

Something was wrong.

I wanted to shoot Magic at that mass of thoughts right away.

But.

‘Is that really the way for Clatter?’

Was it what Clatter would want?

“Master.”

Luis called me.

“Don’t move! You bastards!”

“What are you scheming!?”

“I don’t know! You idiots!”

“That energy—it’s the energy of death, isn’t it!? Stop it, it’s dangerous!”

“I said I don’t know!”

Dayle blocked the knights.

A tense, explosive situation.

That was when it happened.

Crack! Crack!

With the sound of a walnut breaking, Clatter’s body began to compress.

Everyone’s jaws dropped at the astonishing sight.

Immediately after.

Paaang──!

A powerful shockwave spread out from Clatter.

I shielded my face with my collar and noticed something sparkling as it fell to the ground.

My body lunged toward it.

“Hey! You idiot!”

Dayle shouted.

Ivan was running too.

Toward me.

“Dayle!”

“Screw it! Everyone just die!”

Dayle threw the Calamity he was holding.

It landed where Karina, Bain, and Yuria stood.

Ivan, who had been charging at me, had no choice but to turn and reach for the Calamity.

Splat.

He was doused in the bright yellow liquid that burst from the cracked shell.

“….”

It took him a while to process the situation.

Ivan stared blankly at the yolk on his face and hands.

At that moment, me, Dayle, and Luis.

Rip!

Tore a scroll and escaped the scene.

.

.

.

.

“Phew. I thought I was gonna die!”

As soon as we arrived at Lunatic, Dayle tore off his Face Mask and let out the tension he’d been holding in.

“What the hell was that guy at the end!? Was he crazy to die or what?”

I didn’t answer.

Dayle didn’t seem to expect one either, taking a deep breath and approaching me.

Luis approached me too.

And cautiously asked.

“…What happened to Clatter-sama?”

I opened my hand.

There, a black bead the size of a baby’s palm lay.

“W-What’s that?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know. It was lying where Clatter broke apart. I picked it up.”

“Ah…”

With an incomprehensible sigh, Lunatic fell into a heavy silence for a while.

* * *

A week had passed since the zombie incident ended.

The Empire, centered around the Capital Defense Force, had reorganized the capital, hunting down and killing all the remaining zombies.

By the third day, the zombies were completely gone, and the chaotic Empire was regaining its normalcy.

A bright weekend.

Normally, I would’ve grabbed my sword and headed to the training hall, but not today.

After finishing my dawn routine as soon as I woke up, I hurriedly got ready.

I washed up, put on a crisp white shirt, and tied a tie.

Over it, I threw on a tailored jacket.

Humming a tune, I opened the window, and the bright weather greeted me.

Before heading out, I grabbed my Longsword without hesitation.

In front of the Male Dormitory’s main gate.

Yuria, sitting on a bench, stood up and waved.

I ran to her.

“Did you wait long?”

“No. I just got here too.”

She looked at my waist and smiled brightly.

“You brought it?”

“You too.”

“Yeah. After what happened last time, I made up my mind. No matter what, I’ll always carry my sword.”

I smiled and said.

Good habit.

With that, we boarded a carriage headed for Icata.

Last time, we went downtown, but this time, we went straight to our destination.

Palton Workshop.

Even after several days, traces of past scars remained on the walls here and there.

[Close]

“Looks like they haven’t finished cleaning up.”

“Yeah. The door’s closed.”

“What should we do? Should we try somewhere else?”

“Hm.”

“Why? Don’t other workshops have what you’re looking for, Senior?”

“It’s not that.”

While answering, I lightly knocked on the door.

Knock knock.

“Senior?”

Yuria looked at me curiously.

Creak.

The door opened.

A familiar face stepped out.

It was Hans.

“Oh? You were inside?”

Yuria asked, surprised.

“Hello, Miss Yuria. And.”

Hans smiled at me.

“Remarkable young man.”

Hm.

“Come inside.”

As if he’d known we were coming, his welcoming attitude made Yuria tilt her head.

Inside, it was just Hans and his son.

We were the only customers.

The tidy interior exuded a quiet calm and peace.

The faint smell of lacquer wafted into my nose.

“Look around.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

At Yuria’s question, Hans smiled kindly.

“Pick something you like and bring it over.”

“Huh?”

“A gift. For our benefactors.”

Yuria looked at me.

I gave her a small smile.

In fact, I visited Palton Workshop yesterday.

To check if the Subspace Ring for Yuria had arrived.

The door was closed then, but as I was about to leave, I ran into Hans’s son by chance.

‘And I got a promise.’

A promise to gift us the artifact we wanted.

Plus, everything we buy here from now on would be at cost price.

With that, we picked our items.

When we brought them to the counter, Hans and his son burst into laughter at the same time.

“Keh keh keh!”

“Kik kik!”

Embarrassing.

I glanced at Yuria, whose gaze was fixed elsewhere, but her cheeks, visible between her hair and ears, were flushed red.

Subspace Ring.

We’d both picked the same thing.

And they were sized for each other’s fingers.

* * *

I visited the Sewer District after a long time.

The waterways, once littered with zombie corpses, had returned to their former state.

Still filthy, still smelly.

‘Not much different from when zombies were lying around.’

When I reached the lab, Guartes, who was working on something, greeted me.

“Oh. You’ve come, Master?”

He stood up quickly and guided me to a seat.

Ever since I freed him from confinement at the hotel, his attitude toward me had become far more respectful.

He looked at me with constant reverence, almost to the point of being overwhelming.

‘Honestly, I thought he’d die by the Cult’s hands.’

According to Luis, this zombie incident had actually caused significant damage to the Empire, which ironically improved Guartes’s standing within the Cult.

They say a lucky guy catches a rat even when stumbling backward, and he’s exactly that.

‘Damn lucky bastard.’

From what I saw, Guartes was an incredibly lucky guy.

I was jealous.

My damn body went through every kind of unfair crap in the world.

‘Why’s this smelly guy so lucky?’

For a brief moment, I wondered what it would’ve been like if I’d possessed Guartes’s body instead of Gerard’s.

What would a parallel-world Guartes, possessed by me, look like?

“What brings you here?”

Guartes asked then.

Instead of answering, I pulled an item from my pocket.

“Do you know what this is?”

It was the black bead that had appeared where Clatter broke apart.

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