Chapter 72
Chapter 72
Demon (2)
The loosened atmosphere tightened taut. I rolled my eyes at the sudden change in momentum.
As if the earlier conversation had merely been a warm-up, the Imperial Princess adopted a grave attitude. When someone of her stature exerted pressure, the force of it was tremendous.
“Then. I cannot help but ask.”
Her slightly lowered voice carried a threat. In that brief moment alone, sweat gathered along my spine.
“You. Davide. How is it that you know about my ‘Master’?”
A crossroads of choice. In this case, my life or death hung in the balance.
The Imperial Princess would try to think of it positively if possible. But she would certainly consider the opposite as well. For example, the possibility that I was the one who had killed her Master.
I was merely a student with somewhat decent combat ability; I was not someone who could be compared to the Imperial Princess’s Master.
“First of all, I have no significant connection with your Master.”
“Hmm.”
“However, I do know quite a lot.”
My entire body prickled. It was because the two formidable women before and behind me were pouring intense gazes upon me. It was a burdensome and frightening seat, yet it was far more bearable than I had expected.
Compared to Astral, whom I had met in the laboratory in the past, this was nothing.
“Before that, may I ask the Vice-Commander’s name?”
The Vice-Commander tilted her head, showing a hint of puzzlement. The Imperial Princess, who was facing me, nodded with an intrigued expression.
“My surname is ‘Frigane.’ Sheila ‘Frigane.’”
Only after hearing that surname did I nod.
“His Majesty the current Emperor truly carried out a beautiful pure love.”
Now even the Imperial Princess tilted her head. Lowering her eyes, she seemed unable to grasp the context.
“I heard that the late Empress, who has already passed, was a princess from a foreign land.”
Before the Vice-Commander, who had frowned at the sensitive topic, could step forward, the Imperial Princess raised her hand.
At the Imperial Princess’s restraint, the Vice-Commander looked briefly startled before bowing her head.
“The known surname was Magnolia. It means a beautiful flower.”
“…….”
“And by sheer coincidence, the surname you use, Vice-Commander, ‘Frigane,’ carries the same meaning. Come to think of it, the Empress and you share the same hair color.”
The surroundings suddenly fell silent. The air sank low, as if even the faintest breath was not permitted.
“I ask just in case. Are you of the same kin?”
“You must have investigated the past. I am merely a Duhein.”
Upon hearing the answer, the Imperial Princess let out a deep sigh. She was feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion.
“You. Davide.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I will speak honestly. At this very moment, I shall kill you.”
The sentence of death was recited calmly. At that single, unadorned statement, my instincts rang an alarm.
The phrase “I’ll kill you” was surprisingly common. It was easily uttered in minor anger, and most of the time it was nothing more than a joke.
However, the word “death” that came from the Imperial Princess’s mouth was different. It was a crisis comparable to Astral. In other words, it made me feel a very real possibility that I might truly die.
“You know that it is far too dangerous.”
“Th-that is correct, Your Highness.”
“Yet. It also makes me wonder. Did you truly fail to foresee this situation?”
I shook my head. Just as she said, I had anticipated this situation.
To begin with, the Imperial Princess did not view nobles favorably. With her citizen-friendly disposition, nobles who prioritized their own safety were thorns in her side.
At the very peak of that stood great houses like the Duhein Family. On top of that, Davide had been the very model of a typical aristocratic delinquent.
“I possess a cool-headed reason, and along with it, an innate intuition as well.”
The Imperial Princess’s eyes shone. Having seen her in the game, I nodded.
In dangerous situations, she would make absurd choices—yet every single one of them would become a breakthrough.
“My reason tells me to kill you here and now, for you will eventually become an obstacle.”
She was neither a reckless person who relied solely on intuition nor a stifling one who depended only on logic.
“However, my intuition tells me that I will not be able to kill you.”
Some might laugh at such intuition. I would have done so as well.
But like Worden, the Imperial Princess’s intuition was extraordinary. Her intuition even incorporated rational consideration.
“You must have something you rely on.”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
The Imperial Princess pressed at the corners of her eyes. From the sudden stress, the nape of her neck flushed red.
“You have committed a great deal of irreverence.”
Failing to respond to the summons of the Imperial Princess. Wagging my tongue before her. By strict reckoning, I had committed capital offenses a hundred times over.
“State your reason. The reason I cannot kill you.”
This was the margin. Deep patience could be seen in the Imperial Princess, who was clearly restraining something.
In the game, she bore the title [Iron-Blooded Empress] and was affectionately nicknamed “Iron-Blooded Noona” among the players.
Her refreshing decisiveness in crushing obstacles without hesitation. Her ideal politics that placed citizens first. And the contrast of her gentle side that knew how to respect anyone.
No wonder she was popular.
Facing her like this, I felt it even more keenly. What would I have done if I were in her position?
The moment the Master’s arm was brought out, I would have killed.
To the Imperial Princess, her Master was no different from a parent, a figure who replaced her biological mother who had died when she was young.
My skin trembled.
Even as her aura stirred, the Imperial Princess gave me one more chance. With that, I became certain.
“I will let you meet your Master.”
At the proposal that went beyond shocking, the Imperial Princess closed her eyes. From behind me, a groan escaped the Vice-Commander.
“My reason deems it an insult. Yet my emotions are different.”
The Imperial Princess laid bare her feelings. I understood. Her reason would consider my words absurd, yet her emotions could not help but hope, even for that absurdity.
“Do you truly know? In truth.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Imperial Princess rose from her seat. The soft rustling of fabric brushed the air. The dress was so luxurious it sounded like a piece of music.
The approaching footsteps soon changed into the sound of armored boots striking marble.
“From one to ten, it is all steeped in suspicion. For information without a source, it is far too precise.”
Without regard for decorum, the Imperial Princess sat upon the table. I quietly lowered my gaze. Her voice came from directly above my head.
“Have you wandered through my mind?”
“No, Your Highness.”
Within my lowered field of vision fixed on the table, I saw her hand. The fingers concealed within her gauntlet tapped against the table at a steady rhythm.
“Or perhaps you bribed one of my closest confidants?”
“That is not the case either, Your Highness.”
The rhythmic tapping abruptly stopped.
“I see. You have been to the Fairy Sanctuary.”
The Fairy Sanctuary she mentioned was premature. It was a major arc in the latter half of an episode—the homeland of the Empress.
In other words, it referred to the world where the fairies lived. If things continued this way, that episode would have to be undertaken, but not yet.
Before I could voice my denial, a heavy weight pressed down upon my head.
“Did you witness the crisis of the Fairy Sanctuary?”
“……Yes, Your Highness.”
“So it was you who appeared in my nightmares.”
What I felt, patting lightly against me, was a gentle touch. As if comforting a long-suffering friend, she stroked my head.
Though it was born of her own misunderstanding, I had never even imagined such an action.
“Every night, I have nightmares.”
“I-is that so.”
“Yes. Those I have passed by come to seize me.”
Her voice grew thin. It lingered in my ears like stretched taffy.
Instinctively, a thought surfaced. If I listened to this, I would be unbearably busy.
“Those I have killed, those who died because of me, appear. And there was always someone beside me.”
“……You truly have endured much, Your Highness.”
Cold sweat trickled down. This conversation—I had experienced it before. The dialogue with the Imperial Princess that signaled the beginning of Episode 6.
It was similar to that conversation. The problem was that I had only just cleared Episode 3.
“That pitch-black one, I call him ‘Shadow.’ He spoke to me.”
“……What did he say?”
Should I refuse to hear it? No—could I even refuse? Braving my discourtesy, I raised my head.
The face of the Imperial Princess that met mine looked incomparably sorrowful.
“He told me to wait for a savior.”
“…….”
“For some reason, my intuition tells me it may be you.”
Who was the Imperial Princess? She was the one who had cleaved in a single stroke the structure that embodied the desert god.
It was not a mere whim. It was the ‘intuition’ of a woman who possessed the qualities of an outstanding warrior and knight that urged her so.
Even in the game, the Imperial Princess overcame numerous crises with that extraordinary intuition. For instance, her intuition itself was a reliable choice.
“So I believe I shall indulge in a whim.”
The Imperial Princess took something out from her bosom. What was placed upon the table was a turquoise dumpling.
The moment I recognized it, my mouth fell open.
“You even recognize this. It makes me think you truly saw my past in those nightmares.”
She held it out to me. I stared at it with a trembling face.
“I did say I would grant you a reward regarding the Statue of the Petrified Eagle. I shall substitute it with this.”
Leaving those words behind, the Imperial Princess turned away. The building within the Academy made solely for her. Among them, the room where she resided.
As she walked toward her bedchamber, the veil moved of its own accord. It was a silent order of dismissal.
“Do you know what that is?”
As the Imperial Princess disappeared, I roughly wiped my face with one hand.
With a bitter smile, the Vice-Commander asked cautiously.
“Her Highness is truly courageous.”
The turquoise dumpling the Imperial Princess had given me. A supreme elixir counted among the finest in the Difficult Dungeon. A treasure beyond compare.
Called ‘Fairy’s Spirit,’ it was an elixir that could change one’s race.
“I do not know what it is, but it is far too much for me.”
“No. Her Highness’s intuition is close to foresight. She refrains from acting only because she does not know. If Her Highness has moved, then it is the correct course.”
The Vice-Commander showed unwavering faith. I grew gloomy for a different reason.
The grade of ‘Fairy’s Spirit’ was a Relic-class consumable. It existed uniquely in the world.
But it was a chicken rib.
One of several conditions required to enter the Fairy Sanctuary. Yet it did not merely serve as a pass.
A chicken rib.
Neither clearly beneficial nor clearly detrimental. If consumed, a part of one’s body would become that of a fairy.
One would gain the extraordinary affinity for magic that fairies possessed, as well as their specialty—enchantment magic.
I had no magic.
Not only did I not favor magic by inclination, but I was a body that could not use magic in the first place.
That was not simply a problem of the flesh, but an issue of existence stemming from a transaction with a god. Becoming part-fairy would not easily resolve it.
“I am bewildered to receive something so excessive.”
“At first I found it puzzling, but now I understand Her Highness’s intention.”
I tilted my head at the Vice-Commander’s words. She merely smiled brightly.
Since I could not use magic, there was effectively no benefit. Yet possessing a fairy’s body carried considerable penalties.
“Do not worry. Silence, too, is part of an answer.”
I swallowed a sigh.
Refuse?
I glanced sideways at the Vice-Commander. The strange emotion dwelling within her eyes. Upon confirming it, I realized that refusal was not an option.
The Imperial Princess’s casual favor had become a checkmate.
“Ha.”
My mind spun. Was there a possibility of avoiding it? Low. And dangerous. It was still too soon to undertake the Fairy Sanctuary episode.
“There is a time for choices.”
The hand that gripped my shoulder was gentle. I had no intention of becoming a fairy. The Imperial Princess’s intent was clear—to make me into a powerful chess piece that would never betray her.
I had no intention of that either, and it would only become troublesome. Moreover, I would become too deeply entangled with the Imperial Princess.
“A choice. Yes. A choice.”
There was a grace period, so I needed to think a little longer. It was not as though there was no method at all.