Chapter 342 ·The Villain’s POV in the Academy
Chapter 342: The Villain’s POV in the Academy
“Miss Serena.”
[……No.]
“I made some rice gruel. It should be easy to eat. You need to eat something-.”
[I said no!]
An angry shout came from beyond the tightly shut door.
Soon after, the sound of muffled sobbing drifted out.
The android butler, who had been standing quietly in front of the door holding a tray, silently opened the door and entered as programmed.
On a bed in one corner of the spacious, spotless room sat a ghostlike figure. Hugging her knees and shedding streams of tears was none other than Serena Beresford, his new master.
“Why…… did you come in without permission……!”
“Miss Serena. You need to eat.”
“Shut up…… You don't understand how I feel…….”
Serena lowered her head again and sobbed.
The reason the once bright and energetic Serena had ended up like this was, naturally, the Dragon's invasion. The flames unleashed by that enormous beast had unfortunately engulfed the Beresford Family's mansion, and although Serena had survived, she had suffered horrific burns all over her body and had been forced to undergo lengthy hospital treatment.
Of course, she had now completely recovered and regained the same beautiful appearance as before, but embers still flickered within her heart, scorching it here and there.
It was said that among all the pain a human could experience, the sensation of being burned was the most horrific. Having endured the Dragon's infernal flames across her entire body, it was hardly strange for her to end up in such a state.
To make matters worse, she had been forced to say goodbye to countless acquaintances.
Not only close classmates from the university she attended, but several relatives she had been close to had also lost their lives.
And among the acquaintances from whom she had tragically parted was none other than the previous android butler of this mansion.
The fireball that had injured Serena had utterly erased the android's sturdy plastic body without leaving so much as a speck of ash behind.
Strictly speaking, he had not been a ‘person,’ but ‘property,’ yet to Serena, it seemed that was not something she could dismiss so lightly.
From that day onward, Serena had completely closed her heart. Her worried parents had obtained an android butler of the same model for her, but that did nothing to heal her wounds.
The human heart was complex and subtle, after all. Simply having the same appearance and voice did not mean it would assign the same value to something.
“Miss Serena…….”
“……Get out.”
“…….”
“You're a fake.”
Serena strongly rejected the new butler's existence. Once again, she buried her face in her knees and burst into tears.
It would have been fortunate if even the previous butler's data had remained, but as mentioned before, he had been ‘completely incinerated,’ so that was an impossible wish.
“…….”
Unfortunately, his AI Core did not contain a behavioral program suited to dealing with this sort of situation. The butler simply held the tray in both hands and waited quietly for Serena to calm down.
And perhaps that had some effect.
Serena quietly muttered to herself.
“Everyone's so cruel…….”
“…….”
“When I came to my senses, there was no one around me…… The house was completely gone, my friends were gone…… My body was completely ruined…… A-And on top of that……!”
Serena's speech became increasingly incoherent, mixed with sobs until it was difficult to understand.
“Why…… hasn't ‘he’ come to see me? Isn't he worried about me at all?”
“Whom are you referring to?”
“Aaron! Aaron Stingray!”
Serena abruptly turned her head and shouted.
“I-I knew from the beginning that I was the one who liked him one-sidedly! But even so! How could he not come see me even once!? At least once, as a human being…….”
How much of her heart had she devoted to him?
How much effort and time had she invested, overcoming every kind of embarrassment and humiliation, solely to see him smile just once?
Because she had put in more effort and sincerity than anyone else, she felt betrayed by Aaron for not showing so much as the tip of his nose even in a situation like this.
Normally, Serena would have brushed off Aaron's coldheartedness without a care, but this time, she could not.
It was also proof of just how weakened she had become.
“H-He must've forgotten all about someone like me by now and only cares about Airi or the other girls…… He's the kind of person who doesn't care about anything except work…….”
“Pardon my impertinence, Miss Serena.”
The butler briefly interrupted Serena as she tearfully voiced her complaints.
“If the ‘Aaron Stingray’ Miss Serena is referring to is the Chairman of the Stingray Foundation…… as far as I am aware, he has made no public appearances whatsoever since the previous Dragon attack.”
“……What?”
Serena subtly turned her head.
If she had possessed animal ears, they would undoubtedly have perked up.
“W-What do you mean?”
“Exactly as I said. According to what is publicly known, after Lord Aaron Stingray defeated the Dragon alone at the very end, he secluded himself in his mansion in Elysium. According to news articles, not only has he refused every interview with the media, but he is currently on indefinite leave after entrusting all Foundation-related duties to a proxy…….”
“What? W-Why? Why are they saying he's doing that?”
“The articles contained speculation that it was related to the ‘complete collapse of the Stingray Group.’ There were also ‘health problem rumors.’ Because the battle against the Dragon was so intense, there is speculation that he suffered injuries that were not disclosed to the public, and that President Kalia of the New Stingray Group concealed that fact for the corporation's interests-.”
“My Dear Husband is ill!?”
“……Dear Husband?”
Serena sprang to her feet.
“S-So that's what happened!? It wasn't because he had no interest in me at all, and it wasn't because he was simply coldhearted, but because he was so ill that he couldn't!?”
“O-Of course, for now, it's nothing more than a ‘tabloid rumor’-.”
“I-I was resenting my Husband without even knowing that!?”
“……Husband?”
Leaving the confused butler tilting his head behind, Serena dashed into the living room in her pajamas.
His processing circuits briefly froze at his master's sudden outing(?) after months of refusing to leave her room.
By the time he recovered from the momentary Lag and came back to his senses, a loud crash came from the kitchen.
When he belatedly rushed over, the gas stove was burning, all sorts of kitchenware were scattered chaotically across the floor, and Serena stood among them with a deathly pale face, breathing heavily.
“M-Miss! Are you all right!?”
“I-I'm fine. It's just…… Haa…….”
Serena breathed roughly.
“T-T-Turn that fire off, and go to the department store right now and buy an induction cooktop. I-I thought I'd be fine with something like a gas flame, but apparently I'm not…….”
“Miss? Why do you suddenly need an induction cooktop…….”
S-Shut up! My Groom is so sick that he can't even move, so I have to do something!”
“……My Groom?”
Wasn't Serena herself also too sick to move?
As far as he knew, she had barely been able to eat properly for the past week because of how unwell she had been.
Still, it was extremely fortunate that Serena was beginning to regain her energy. The butler had no idea what exactly was happening, but for the time being, he decided to obey his master's orders.
“Understood. As you instructed, I will immediately purchase an induction cooktop. If you have a preferred product or price range-.”
“Figure that much out yourself! Ah, and when you get back, prepare some clothes for me to wear while cooking, and some cosmetics too! We don't have time, so hurry!”
“U-Understood.”
And so, practically shoved out the door to acquire a new kitchen appliance, the butler thought to himself.
His new master…… might be a slightly strange person.
“Haa…… Haa…….”
The ground was stained with mangled chunks of flesh and pools of blood. No matter where one looked, there were corpses, corpses…… nothing but corpses.
At the center of that land filled with nothing but death, Airi raised her head while breathing heavily.
When she looked up at the sky-
Hsssssss-!
A massive amount of steam belatedly burst from her body. Her body, heated by overload, rapidly began to cool.
“Phew…….”
She then opened the canteen she had brought along, took a sip of water, and collected herself. The moment some energy returned to her body and the heat subsided, she displayed a map at one side of her vision and started running again.
2:00 PM, 31,861.
That was the number of [Mysteries] she had dealt with alone since setting out for the battlefield by herself before sunrise that morning. Of course, the number included lower-ranked species and species characterized by overwhelming their enemies with sheer numbers rather than individual ability, but thirty-one thousand was still a figure no one could dare dismiss lightly.
[Warning. Overload Rate rising.]
“Disable warning.”
Warning messages continued to obstruct her vision, but she forcibly shut them off and kept moving toward the next battle. She had already been fighting for nearly ten hours with almost no rest, yet she showed no sign of exhaustion.
She moved, fought, moved again, and continued fighting.
By around 8:00 PM, after single-handedly sweeping away well over forty thousand monsters in total, she returned to the city.
Miyu greeted her with an extremely furious expression when she returned covered in dust and blood.
“Airi!!”
“…….”
“W-Where in the world did you go!? Do you know how worried everyone was because we couldn't even contact you!? Do you know how terrified we were that you might never come back…… A-And besides, that appearance…… You used ‘that Module,’ didn't you!?”
“…….”
Exhausted beyond measure, Airi simply closed her eyes without answering.
It meant she did not want to hear the lecture.
Miyu became even angrier at that attitude, but she could not bring herself to say anything more.
“……F-For now, I'll perform maintenance. It was something whose performance hadn't even been properly tested yet, and your Replacement Rate suddenly increased, so there might've been some unexpected problem.”
“There's no problem. I fought with it, so I know.”
“E-Even so, maintenance is essential.”
“Fine, got it. More importantly. Where are the others?”
“They went out looking for Airi, then ended up fighting the [Mysteries] again. They thought they'd be able to find Airi that way.”
“Looks like we missed each other. That's actually better.”
Airi let out a deep sigh.
Then she opened the bag slung across her back and held it out in front of Miyu.
“……W-What's this?”
“Byproducts from the [Mysteries]. I dismantled and brought back only the hearts of the strongest ones I fought. Extract Essences from these and make Mystic Modules for me.”
“Airi!”
Miyu could no longer hold back and shouted.
“Are you trying to end up like Aaron too!? I've told you before. Your Module Sensitivity is extremely high, so if you recklessly raise your Replacement Rate, you're much more likely to suffer side effects…….”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
Airi asked back in a low voice.
Miyu flinched and trembled at her voice. It was probably because exhaustion had mixed irritation into Airi's tone.
“There's no way we'll make it if we stop to check our health every single time. Even if it means pushing ourselves too hard, we have no choice but to do it.”
“…….”
“And Miyu, I'm asking this precisely because it's you.”
“B-Because it's me?”
“You can do it. You can raise my overall Replacement Rate and Output Level right up to the absolute limit, can't you? Right? In fact, this ‘Sky Dragon’ material Module I'm using right now was made after calculating all of that too. Right?”
“But Airi…….”
“So this is a secret between you and me.”
Airi spoke with complete sincerity.
“I don't want to drag the other members into something like this too. I can do it. You and I can do it.”
“…….”
“We only have five days left now. If we can't finish it within five days, the Chairman will become a complete cyborg and turn into a mechanical weapon for Stingray Corporation. Put another way, it means we only have to suffer for five more days.”
D-Do you even understand what you're saying right now?”
“Miyu. After using the Module you made today, I'm certain. If I bring you materials after hunting every day, and you use them to make equipment and Modules for me, we'll just barely be able to meet the deadline. I guarantee it.”
“…….”
“Five days, Miyu. Five days.”
Miyu did not answer Airi's words, but her expression alone made it clear which way her heart was leaning. After hesitating for a moment, Miyu answered with tears half-filling her eyes.
“F-For now, make sure you get enough rest.”
With that, Miyu took the materials Airi had handed her and disappeared deeper into the workshop.
Given how little time they had, even using materials like those would probably only allow her to make something around Lv.3 to Lv.4 at best…… but right now, even that was necessary.
It was 4:00 AM the next morning when Miyu returned after completing the new Modules.
Miyu explained how to use them and the precautions she needed to take, but Airi only half-listened before immediately inserting the Modules into the back of her neck.
Ssssssssh.
She felt her original body disappear as new parts took its place.
And she felt a new power, incomparable to anything before, spread throughout her entire body.
“Good. Then I'm leaving right away.”
T-The Modules haven't finished applying completely yet……!”
“No time to wait.”
Airi gathered her belongings once again and headed toward the battlefield.
She had four days left.
‘Even if it costs me my life…….’
She would save him no matter what.