Chapter 42 : Chapter 42
Chapter 42: The Trash’s Contract (2)
“The contract.”
“Yes?”
“Take out the contract. There’s more.”
“Yes… Yes! Yes!”
“If you reveal my identity, everyone dies then. Sign it.”
“Yes?”
“You can die now too.”
“I’ll do it! Please let me do it!”
***
“That took a while. I hope you weren’t plotting anything.”
“…….”
“Young Master, was everything alright?”
“Of course. It was resolved well.”
“Asha is.”
“I’m planning to take it for now.”
“…I would like to talk about that again later.”
Simurtr was holding Asha. Aran was looking at it with a displeased expression.
“Nothing will change.”
“Well. I’m sure the Young Master knows what he’s doing.”
“Are you upset?”
“No.”
He must have his reasons. Aran reluctantly nodded. He was Exa’s successor. He wouldn’t have accepted it so readily without a thought.
Perhaps his deep involvement with Degrate’s Semenu was due to a prior hint from Exa.
‘Since he is the successor. He would have wanted to give everything he could.’
Aran could largely empathize with the heart of Exa, who was alive somewhere.
Considering his nature of being obsessed with the sword… it was unthinkable that he would have considered Phantasmal Ability, but the situation had turned out that way.
“Let’s get to the main point.”
“…….”
“Jiaren Degrate. To continue the agenda, our House will maintain its alliance with Degrate.
This is a matter desired not only by our House but by Degrate as well, I presume.”
“That’s right.”
Semenu nodded instead of Jiaren.
“Then only one agenda remains. The beast.”
Degrate is innocent.
In that case, Mectera now had to find the culprit.
“We will cooperate.”
The search, identification, and tracking of the hidden accomplice or faction.
As the saying goes, he who has eaten knows how to eat best; in that field, Degrate was unrivaled.
“Our House will also spare no effort. But we need to narrow it down. The beast used a Phantasmal Ability. Do you have any ideas?”
“I don’t know.”
Semenu answered.
Aran’s and Semenu’s gazes fell on one place. Simurtr’s gaze was drawn along with them.
“Jiaren.”
“Jiaren Degrate.”
“Hey.”
But there was no change in her pupils. She didn’t even feel the sting of their stares. Jiaren was still out of her mind.
“Jiaren Degrate!”
“Uh… huh? Did you call me… sir?”
Jiaren flinched and answered, then raised the end of her sentence upon seeing Simurtr.
“What were you thinking about that you weren’t paying attention?”
“Ah… that is….”
Jiaren, who was looking at Simurtr, turned her gaze to Semenu. Is this really not a phantasm?
She had even signed a contract in a daze. Was this really reality? Jiaren, the Phantasm who had always deceived others, was, for the first time in her life, swept up in and empathizing with the feelings of a victim.
If it was a phantasm this realistic, who could not be deceived?
‘As expected, the power of elves is amazing.’
Conceived from the First’s ashes, a Degrate without Asha.
Semenu’s phantasm boasted that level of quality…….
“Hey.”
“Indeed. A kid like this… Ack! Ack! Ack!”
There’s no way that kid is the hero Exa.
Jiaren, who was about to say that, suddenly let out a series of screams. A huge pain had shot through her heart.
No, it wasn’t simple pain. Jiaren shook her head violently at her fading vision and thought.
This is the agony of the soul. The contract is imprinted, proof that the soul is held hostage.
“Jiaren Degrate, I asked if you had any suspicions.”
“…Later. I’ll tell you later… sir.”
It wasn’t a phantasm.
Jiaren needed time to think.
***
It was a full day later that Jiaren came to her senses.
Just after noon, Jiaren visited the 6th Sword Order.
“The beast. I have a suspicion. Artificial insemination. Nurmakan Degrate was skilled with Phantasmal Ability, but he wasn't someone who could come up with such an idea on his own.”
“Why are you acting so out of character?”
“What.”
“Why the sudden formality? It doesn’t suit you. Speak as you usually do.”
“…This is an official setting.”
“Since when did you care about such things?”
Nurmakan Degrate got his inspiration from an external source. That was Jiaren’s speculation.
“I… I believe there are only a few groups capable of such a horrible idea. Like the Magic
Tower, or maybe some cultists.”
It was a point Simurtr agreed with.
From ancient times, inhumane experiments were the domain of spellcasters and heretics.
Recently, the Doom Species might have been added to that list.
‘Technically, I’m a heretic too.’
I had never believed in god, but my current body was proof that completely denied the doctrines of Ruo.
“Our bloodline has never mixed with outsiders. This is a certain fact. We have verified everyone.”
Some sort of method. Jiaren didn’t seem to have any intention of revealing that method.
Simurtr didn’t bother to point it out.
Though he had forced Jiaren, his respect for Semenu was greater. Semenu did not wish for Degrate to be ruined.
“I’ll cooperate as much as possible. The emergence of a Phantasmal Ability user from the outside is a matter our main house cannot overlook.”
Jiaren said, looking at Simurtr.
It was obedience not to Mectera, but to Simurtr. To protect Degrate.
***
Asha, Simurtr’s identity, the contract. Many things were giving Jiaren a headache, but the Phantasmal Ability user encountered in Huit was also among them.
The Phantasmal Ability user in Huit possessed a degraded version. That is, similar to a Degrate who had not consumed Asha.
As the Phantasm Jiaren, she had a duty to investigate its origins.
Even if Simurtr hadn't been involved, Jiaren was in a situation where she had no choice but to cooperate.
“Still, it ended quickly.”
The 6th Sword Order was preparing to leave.
From clues about the beast to Degrate’s cooperation, all the goals of the meeting had been achieved.
The only thing left on the schedule was to return. The swordsmen did not particularly enjoy staying in Degrate for long.
It was a physiological discomfort. Not many humans liked assassins, let alone sword demons.
“What about the Young Master?”
“He said he’s staying.”
“Why?”
“He said he wants to fight with the assassins?”
“It won’t be fun for him.”
To the swordsmen who had been through thick and thin, assassins were chilling opponents.
Not fun, but incredibly troublesome.
If you requested a spar, they would set the period for one day. They’d attempt an assassination for a day, and you’d have to block or counter it. They were a tribe with a different concept altogether.
“He means to gain experience.”
“Isn’t it just that he wants to fight?”
“That’s the same thing.”
Within the 6th Sword Order, Simurtr’s reputation was sky-high.
Talent was one thing, but his attitude was another. Though Mectera swordsmen were famous as sword demons, they now knew who the true sword demon was.
“When we get back, I’m going to rest a bit.”
“Me too.”
“They said sparring during the journey, but who knew we’d be doing it every day.”
“I liked it.”
“Me too.”
“I’m not going to see the Young Master for a while.”
When he fought, Simurtr smiled.
Some swordsmen had started to shudder every time they saw Simurtr’s bright smile.
“Young Master.”
Aran and Naor approached while I was watching the 6th Sword Order prepare for departure and smiling inanely.
“Oh. Are you all ready?”
Simurtr’s attire was light.
Black martial arts clothes and a single sword held casually were all he had. It wasn't because of a subspace magic tool. Unlike the 6th Sword Order, he was not leaving.
“Are you really not coming with us?”
“Opportunities to play with assassins aren’t common, are they?”
The excuse of broadening his horizons was a pretty good one for the main house to hear.
The young Mectera was experiencing the world through the Sword Order’s missions.
Indeed, Naor was nodding with a quite impressed face. He was thinking that the young Mectera’s attitude was excellent.
“I think it would be an experience that won’t be of help to the Young Master.”
On the other hand, Aran, who knew the truth, was negative.
Asha. To Aran, who was a Mectera to the core, Degrate’s Phantasmal Ability was like heresy.
“Well, that’s something I’ll know once I try.”
***
Although they were all comrades who had overcome the war together, people generally tended to rank each other when they were together.
The Sword Saint was, without a doubt, the number one contributor to the Doom War.
Although the final assault operation was a flaw, considering his achievements, he could never be belittled.
The same went for his much-rumored temperament. Just because he was a scoundrel didn’t mean what he did disappeared.
Exa Baperr, or Mectera.
In Mectera, and the imperial family and other heroes, they claimed his enemy was Mectera.
Many imperial citizens naturally knew it that way too. Since his memorial was engraved with Mectera, not Baperr.
But some still called him Baperr, saying his affiliation with Mectera was not Exa’s will.
“We are Baperr.”
Degrate was one of those places. But they didn’t particularly assert it; it was just a saying that circulated internally.
The source was, of course, Semenu. For that child who was a member of the Baperr unit, it was a matter of course. Wasn’t Semenu Baperr written on the trash contract?
“Sword Tower, The Unsetting Sun, Baramant, Black Land……”
Jiaren skimmed through the papers scattered all over her office desk.
The tower of swordsmen.
Another group of swordsmen stationed at the Sword Tower.
A group of free knights who hunt remnant Doom Species.
The entrance to the Black Sea, the holy land of villains.
Setting aside the trivial ones, these were the big shots who claimed Exa was Baperr.
In other words, followers like Semenu.
“This is so fucking annoying.”
Jiaren messed up her hair in frustration.
Why were they still fighting over a mere last name?
Even 20 years after his death, the hero Exa was still exerting such influence on the world.
“But he was reincarnated?”
Jiaren didn't feel any aversion to the concept of reincarnation. They were hostile to Ruo in the first place. Moreover, she had even seen a reincarnation in person.
“Right, for fuck’s sake. A Sword Master at that age, does that even make sense?”
Achievement was one thing, but… the quality of that magic power that had briefly suppressed the phantasm materialized through the Unique Phantasmal Realm.
“I should have noticed then. Fuck.”
His nature is peculiar? There’s a limit to peculiarity. Even Ruo’s saintess wasn't that peculiar.
Considering his relationship with Semenu, she should have noticed then.
“What do I do……”
If she had, she wouldn't have been so flustered.
She wouldn't have had to sign the contract either. Now Degrate was in the palm of Simurtr’s, no, Exa’s hand.
“Why is there so much.”
On the cluttered desk, there was also a report on Exa Baperr. An old one. From when the Doom War was in full swing.
“…This fucking idiot.”
Jiaren cursed the dead Nurmakan.
A Degrate report was supposed to contain everything about the target. Abilities, life patterns, habits, hobbies, relationships.
…And the clients and the number of requests.
“Did he really do all of this?”
Usually, a report ended in one page, and even that was filled with the target’s characteristics.
They were Degrate because they carried out a given mission in one go.
Jiaren kept flipping through the bound report. Usually, if one page was filled, it would move on to a review of mission feasibility. But this one was a whopping ten pages long.
“Crazy……”
Jiaren spat out. The curse wasn’t limited to Nurmakan. Jiaren thought of Exa, whom she had never even seen in his lifetime.
“How many missions……”
Nine of the ten pages were mission execution results. Her head throbbed just trying to count them one by one. The assassination attempts easily numbered in the dozens.
Nurmakan, who endlessly accepted and attempted this, was amazing, and Exa, who went through it, was even more amazing.
All were assassination requests made during the Doom War. But he overcame them all?
While he was actively fighting on the battlefield?
“What kind of mentality. How strong is his heart.”
Jiaren let out a hollow laugh.
It was already a war where they were at a disadvantage. They were called heroes because they could turn that disadvantage around.
Exa had consistently produced achievements worthy of a hero, even in a situation where even his allies had turned into enemies.
What the other heroes achieved while being revered and supported by their followers, he did with just a squad of eight.
“The Baperr second-in-command was classified as a hero, but that was later.”
It was around the time the end of the war was confirmed that he, who had been The Prophet, rose to the ranks of heroes. He was recognized for something other than military prowess.
The second-in-command’s contribution was sufficient to be recognized as a hero, but most of Baperr’s activities until then had been attributed to Exa.
“This is why they’re still arguing to have it corrected to Baperr.”
On top of that, Gerehk Mectera.
Jiaren let out a hollow laugh upon seeing the client’s name.
To think that the persistent instigator who had filled nine pages was the Mectera who had been adopted in the past.
“There are so many damn idiots.”
Jiaren suddenly thought of Aran Lubeil.
That 6th Head of the Sword who still longed for the hero Exa.
“He probably doesn’t know.”
If he had known Simurtr’s identity, he would have treated him with even more reverence.
“No. If he has a conscience, he shouldn’t do that, should he?”
The client was a Mectera. The former Sword Master, at that.
If he learned that truth, Aran, the Head of the Sword of Mectera, wouldn’t dare to even lift his head in front of Simurtr. With his personality, he might even commit suicide.
“What was that idiot thinking, doing this?”
The branches of her thoughts continued to spread.
Nurmakan had not given up on the mission despite countless failures. Why? Jiaren pondered the reason.
The former Phantasm Nurmakan was a terrible person, but that meant he wasn’t stupid.
Urging the reclusive bloodline to participate in the war and joining the imperial army was one of the most successful cases in Degrate’s history.
“The contract?”
The reward for the mission, a friendly relationship with Gerehk Mectera, rumors of discord among the heroes… passing by various hypotheses, Jiaren suddenly muttered.
“It was the contract!”
At the sudden thought, she slapped her forehead. She took out the unsealed purple jade box from her Unique Phantasmal Realm.
“There’s no clause about not attacking.”
The focus of the contract was solely on Semenu. Although it was a contract between Exa and Nurmakan, Exa’s name only appeared in the penalty section.
“If there is any further interference, all future actions of Exa Baperr shall be justified. All of Degrate shall acquiesce to their deaths.”
The subject of the penalty was Exa.
If Exa died, the contract would turn into a mere piece of paper. No matter what Nurmakan did, Degrate would not be harmed.
“This……”
A jolt went through Jiaren’s head. She took out the contract she had written the day before from her Phantasmal Realm.
Do not reveal his identity. As expected, the penalty was extremely vague. Just like Nurmakan’s contract, there was no clause whatsoever about not killing the signatory.
“Is this what they call the complacency of the strong?”
The contract from his time as Exa was understandable.
He was indeed revered as a war hero, and in the process, he had turned numerous Degrate assassination attempts into failures.
But now? It seemed that such a notion was being maintained by inertia, but the current Exa was weak.
His body was soft, and he didn't have much magic power. Although he had countless experiences, such components could only function properly when the main body’s capacity had reached a certain level…….
‘Sorry, Semenu, but.’
To the Phantasm Jiaren, the most precious thing was Degrate. The contract, which was simply about not revealing his identity, was still a leash. The possibility of being swayed could not be overlooked.
“Are you going to try it too?”
A voice was suddenly heard.
“Yes…?”
Her head creaked. As if something was broken, Jiaren slowly raised her gaze.
“Uh… when did you arrive… sir?”
“‘There’s no clause about not attacking.’ Is that right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
To kill Exa, she also had to subdue Semenu.
And maybe… the other Baperr squad members who would soon hear the news. Mectera too. The Emperor and the other heroes too.
“If you’re confident, go ahead.”
The bright smile seemed somehow familiar. Just a moment ago, her brain had been spinning, but now that she was face to face with him, it went blank.
“You’d better do it right. Without any mistakes. While I’m still weak.”
That confidence. The hero of the Doom War. Now that she knew the truth, his presence was so vividly palpable.
“But if you fail, I’ll scatter you with Nurmakan’s ashes. Later. For sure.”
The report from Nurmakan that had given Jiaren her realization was also proof that the same realization had already failed.