Chapter 13 - He Had Planned It All

The mastermind.

To track down the Death God's cult, I needed money and manpower.

Until now, Father had supplied the funds, so money hadn't been a concern. That was no longer the case.

I had no justification.

'Well, Father, in about two years, the Undead King is going to rise again and the apocalypse will begin. I'll need money and people to stop it. Could you spare me some?'

As if I could say that.

Self-sufficiency.

I'd have to find them myself.

And on that front, this would help.

JINGLE

I finally found the key in the other pocket.

It looked ordinary, but I could feel mana swirling around it. A key with an added magical locking mechanism.

It was the same reward Laward could obtain by killing Karma in the game.

Choosing [Try Opening the Safe with the Key] yielded the gold bars Karma had amassed over his lifetime, along with the organization's ledgers and membership list.

Once I found that safe, money wouldn't be a problem.

The question was how to get into the hideout.

I could walk through the front door and wipe them out, just as Laward had in the game.

But killing every guild member would mean losing useful manpower.

Having carried out assassination contracts, they specialized in covert work. I couldn't ask for better pawns to track down the Death God's cult.

They were also perfect for cutting loose if necessary, or discarding once they'd served their purpose.

It would be a waste not to use them.

"Hmm."

Alternatively, I could use Lucia.

She could enter and leave the hideout without arousing suspicion. I could have her fetch the contents of the safe, too.

But sponsor or not, I'd only met Lucia once.

In affection-point terms, I was probably close to zero.

Whether she'd actually do as I asked—

"Woooo!"

Startled by the sudden cheer, I turned to find Esther surrounded by soldiers.

"H-huh...?"

She looked around at them with the frightened expression of a cornered rabbit.

"You saved our lives, academy girl!"

One soldier clasped both her hands.

"We'd all be dead if you hadn't come! Thank you so much...! S-sniff..."

"N-no... I only did what my sponsor told me to..."

Esther shot me a pleading look.

Unfortunately, when she turned toward me, the soldiers followed her gaze.

"Third Young Master... Forgive us for doubting you."

One soldier bowed deeply, and the others followed with respectful bows of their own, as though they'd rehearsed it.

"Young master...! We're alive thanks to the student you brought...!"

"We owe you our lives!"

Their attitudes had changed so completely that I could hardly believe these were the same bastards who'd sneered at me earlier.

Just as I felt the sudden urge to give them a taste of their own medicine...

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

Hoofbeats rang out, and I instinctively turned toward them.

Squinting to focus, I saw riders approaching with House Hasgard's banner streaming behind them.

"Father! This way! I heard explosions around here!"

The eldest Hasgard shouted to Father.

"Romans... Daywin... Please be safe..."

"Don't worry, Father. I-I'm sure nothing's happened! They must simply have lost their way."

My eldest brother seemed to be raising his voice deliberately to reassure Father.

Despite his own rigid expression.

They rode toward us with soldiers in tow, Father to the eldest Hasgard's left and Mother to his right.

Unlike the two worried men, Mother looked furious.

"Urk."

I hadn't expected Mother to come too.

A chill swept through me.

Lady Hasgard wore armor, with a huge battle-axe strapped to her back.

Most people would picture a countess as a delicate woman about ten years younger than the head of the house. Possessing the youngest Hasgard son's body had shattered that preconception.

My mother stood nearly 180 centimeters tall and had a powerful frame.

She looked every inch a warrior.

I couldn't begin to understand Father's taste.

Or was it the other way around? Had they married because Father was Mother's type?

Had she caught him?

"Dyer."

"Yes, Mother."

Lady Hasgard addressed her eldest son without taking her eyes off the path ahead.

"Don't show your anxiety. People are watching."

"... Forgive me."

"This is the Subjugation Festival, not a battlefield. Nothing will have happened."

"But..."

"A Hasgard man dies on the battlefield. I have never raised a son so weak that he would die in a place like this."

"... Yes, Mother."

A moment later, Father drew near, dismounted, and called out to me.

"You there!"

Distraught as he was, he seemed to have mistaken me for a member of the paladin order.

"Have you seen this crest anywhere nearby...?"

He pointed at the two-speared emblem engraved on his rounded armor, but soon realized there was no need to ask.

"... Daywin?"

He finally recognized me.

Then he grabbed my shoulders, squeezing hard enough to hurt.

As I watched his eyes tremble, the eldest Hasgard and Mother dismounted too.

"Daywin! Are you all right?!"

Dyer somehow managed to run over, his heavy armor clanking.

"Daywin, are you hurt anywhere? And what's this white armor...?"

Father and my eldest brother felt me all over, checking my condition as thoroughly as an airport pat-down.

As I tried to shake off their probing hands, my eyes met Mother's.

"..."

She looked away without a word.

She must have had a mountain of questions herself.

After a moment, she asked just one.

"Where is Romans?"

"He's..."

"I'm all right!"

Right on cue, Romans approached with one hand raised high.

"Romans! Th-there's blood on your chest...!"

Father and my eldest brother began feeling him over, just as they'd done to me.

"I'm fine. The student our youngest brought healed me completely! Hahaha!"

Romans recounted everything in detail like a tale of valor: what had happened after we split up, the assassins' appearance, and my arrival to help.

He was nearing the end of his story when it happened.

"Romans. Daywin."

Mother's cold voice dropped low.

"We need to have a talk."

We flinched and froze.

We need to have a talk.

Sit down here.

Magic words guaranteed to make any son raised by a strict mother tense up.

A shadow fell over the middle Hasgard's face, which had been beaming only moments before.

Looking despondent, he trudged over like a defeated soldier.

"Y-you called, Mother?"

Romans snapped to attention.

I stood stiffly beside him.

"Romans."

"Yes!"

"I hear there was something unusual about the goblins."

"Yes, that's correct."

"Why didn't you retreat immediately?"

"Well..."

"I've always told you that retreating is just as important as advancing."

"I did consider retreating. But..."

"Pathetic. You considered it? Had you a reason for not retreating, I would have heard it. But all you have are excuses?"

One of Mother's eyebrows arched sharply.

"Had you been alone, yes, you could have judged the situation and chosen whether to fight or retreat. But what of the soldiers following you? Your father entrusted those men to you. And your arrogance and indecision led them all into mortal danger."

"... I have no excuse."

At some point, Romans had fixed his gaze on the tips of his boots.

"Worst of all, that complacent judgment nearly cost you your own life. Had your brother not come, you would already be a cold corpse."

That last part was the heart of it.

Mother wasn't angry because of Romans's arrogance or indecision.

She simply didn't express herself the way Father and my eldest brother did.

Only I, living my second life, knew how she truly felt.

In my previous life, now so different from this one, Mother had fallen ill with grief after Romans's death and eventually passed away.

"Daywin."

Now it was my turn.

"U-urk. Yes."

I couldn't help imagining what arrows she would aim at me.

Just as I swallowed hard...

SMACK!

Mother struck my back with a full swing.

"Gurk!"

Her hand came before her words.

"Don't do anything reckless."

I was wearing armor that could stop even those lightning-fast daggers, yet somehow Mother's hand still stung.

013

'Master Karma... lost.'

Having followed Karma to the Subjugation Festival, Lucia had secretly watched everything unfold.

The guild members driving a pack of goblins into Romans's troops. Daywin intervening and devastating the forest. The duel between Karma and Daywin.

She had watched it all with her heart in her mouth.

["Did Lucia come too?"]

And Daywin had said those words.

She had heard him clearly, the moment he saw Karma's face.

'He knew everything.'

Daywin knew who Lucia had been working for.

He knew every detail of her circumstances.

Naturally, her thoughts turned to their first meeting.

["I want you to focus on your studies."]

It had been the same then.

Though they had never met before, his eyes had seemed to look straight through her.

["Or is it that you can't quit?"]

She had hated those eyes, which seemed to know everything, as though he might suddenly force his way into her life.

He was just a noble who'd had everything from birth: parents, wealth, status.

["I'll have to deal with them one by one anyway."]

She suddenly remembered him saying that, too.

One by one.

Deal with them one by one.

She hadn't understood his intentions then.

But now Karma was dead.

Daywin Hasgard had killed him.

'When he said he'd deal with them... ' He'd been planning to kill Master Karma even then?

'That's what he meant...'

For it to be anything else, Daywin's recognition of Karma's face was far too unnatural.

He must have investigated him beforehand.

In that case, had their encounter at the Subjugation Festival really been a coincidence?

["I have a bad feeling about this. It could be a trap."]

Lucia herself had said that.

A trap.

At the time, she'd said whatever came to mind to stop Karma. But thinking it over now, it wasn't implausible.

What if Daywin had been waiting for Karma all along?

What if he'd been the hunter, not the prey?

'He had planned it all.'

Just as he'd done for Laward.

Just as he'd done for Esther.

If it would let a young sprout blossom beautifully, he would make anything possible.

He would become its sunlight, its water, its soil.

'Could it be that we're taking turns?'

Had that salvation finally come for her, too?

Could she dare hope for a life different from the one she'd known?

'Could I be saved too...'

"Shh. Don't turn around. Just listen."

The sudden voice brought her back to reality.

"It's me, Lucia."

A masked assassin had come up behind her.

"I didn't hear that you were coming. I don't know what's going on, but... thank goodness you're here."

The guild assassin deftly raised his bow and aimed at the Hasgard family.

"Lucia... Master Karma is dead. That monstrous bastard killed him... We can't go back like this."

The arrow nocked to his bow pointed at each Hasgard family member in turn.

"Those bastards. They think it's all over. They're practically celebrating. They don't know we're hiding here."

He gulped, then continued.

"Lucia, get ready while I line up the shot. Once the arrow hits, you rush in. They'll panic for sure, so you should be able to slit one more throat in the confusion."

"... Lucia doesn't understand."

"What?"

"What would that change?"

"We have to avenge him!"

The assassin snapped, keeping his voice as low as possible.

"We're the dogs Master Karma raised...! We have to stay loyal to our master even after he dies... To the very end...!"

Those words churned through Lucia's mind.

A dog.

Was there any name that suited her better?

She had been trained since childhood.

She had learned to move at her master's command, to hunt, to obey.

Her master provided her shelter, and she ate whatever he gave her.

When told to bite, she bit.

When she resisted, she was beaten.

"... A dog."

"I'm not aiming for the bastard in white armor. It won't work on him anyway. But if I hit one of the others, it'll be fatal at this range. Losing family will hurt him more than any arrow could..."

The word family naturally brought Lucia's younger sisters to mind.

She had never complained about living as Karma's dog because she wanted to protect them.

She had lived for what she held dear.

"I know you wanted to leave the guild. Even went to the academy, though it didn't suit you... You wanted a normal life, right? But... we are what we are. This isn't the time to hesitate. Our hands are already dirty."

"I'm not hesitating. As you said, I'm a dog. Lucia is loyal to her master."

"Good. Then I'm shooting."

The moment the assassin drew his bowstring, his face taut with tension—

SLASH!

Lucia swung her sword.

A single flash passed in an instant.

Her blade cut through the assassin's throat.

"Gurgh... L-Lucia... Why...?"

"I told you."

Dark red blood spattered over half of Lucia's face.

"Lucia is loyal to her master."