Chapter 96 - The Villain (3)

On our third day in the apocalypse, Lady Silver Lily was absent from the academy.

"They say she's bedridden with an illness."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes. Apparently, she's always been prone to minor illnesses. And she must have spent the whole night interrogating her servants, so it's hardly surprising!"

The Inquisitor demurely sipped his black tea (packed with healthful sodium).

"Physical strength is national strength! When you're ill, it's difficult to accomplish even the greatest cause you might hold in your heart. Hmm, what a shame. Lady Silver Lily has the talent to set her sights on the empire..."

"I also heard in passing that the crown prince has stopped attending classes."

"Ahaha. Yes, it's all thanks to you, Butler. He must be quite shocked, wouldn't you say? He might even apply for a leave of absence."

We were having tea in a corner of the garden, where magnolias bloomed in profusion. The other students passing through were startled when they spotted us.

"It's that deranged mistress and servant!"

"The delinquent young lady!"

"Don't go near them!"

The young ladies gathered up their skirts, and the young gentlemen rolled up their trouser cuffs before scurrying away.

Thanks to them, we had the spacious garden all to ourselves. Sweet.

"Inquisitor. You just called me [Butler], not [Death King]. Be careful."

"Oh! I'm sorry. My mistake. Now that my immersion rate has passed 20%, I can't quite control myself. Incidentally, this salted black tea is surprisingly appealing! Another cup, please, Butler."

"You called me Butler again..."

With a sigh, I poured more black tea into my lady's cup. It flowed in a delicate stream.

"Hmm-hmm."

I hummed. Something I'd realized since taking on the butler's role was how profound the art of tea truly was. Even the sight of tea falling from the pot and gathering in the cup was beautiful, each drop spreading into ripples. A culture truly befitting my lady...

[Your immersion in the character is deepening.]

[Your current immersion rate is 10%.]

"Eeeek!"

The Inquisitor jumped.

"Butler, why did you suddenly dump tea all over me? It's hot! You've inflicted serious damage on my delicate hair!"

"[Eeeek]? You never used to scream like that! Haven't you really turned into Lady Golden Silk Blossom, body and mind? Try answering this. When spring comes!"

"Magnolias fall, and so does the butler's hair."

"Aaaaagh!"

For a little while, I experienced the terror of hair loss.

We calmed down and stopped fighting. As his attendant, I brushed the Inquisitor's hair.

Over the past few days, the hair at the back of his head had grown a little longer. Was it the effect of the Divine Art, Divine Transformation? Or was he becoming more and more like Lady Golden Silk Blossom?

"You express a much wider range of emotions now, Inquisitor."

My fingers swept through his golden hair. I'd never brushed anyone else's hair or had someone brush mine, but my hands moved on their own.

"You always smiled before, but looked at another way, that was no different from never smiling at all. It felt less like you smiled because you were happy and more like a smile was simply your default expression."

"Aha. Has that changed now?"

"Yes, there's more emotion in it. It's more vivid, I suppose? Now, when you smile, I feel like I can tell why. Whether you're smiling out of genuine happiness or sneering at someone."

"I see. I've noticed it myself. Do you think this is a good development, Death King?"

I silently looked down at the back of his head. A small head. A small body. Small shoulders. Small arms. I wondered how many people he had killed with this little body.

The Inquisitor.

A first-generation hunter from Bulgaria, Europe.

Age unknown.

Number of murders unknown.

"... Yes, I think it's a good development."

I began to speak.

"Honestly, I'd been wondering what to do with you."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Because you're a psychopath and a deranged mass murderer."

I slowly tied back his hair. Memories surfaced of looking after the younger children at the orphanage.

"But I couldn't just kill you out of the blue. The Black Dragon leader, who would hate someone like you more than anyone, and even the Sword Star were letting you live. That meant there was a reason not to kill you."

The Inquisitor smiled. Even hearing that I'd considered whether to kill him didn't surprise him. If anything, he found it amusing.

"An accurate insight!"

"Why do you kill people?"

At last, I asked the question I'd wanted so badly to ask.

"You're a psychopath, but you're one who understands what people say. You know how to understand others in your own way. So why do you kill them?"

"Hmm."

The Inquisitor rested a hand against his chin. He seemed lost in thought. From beyond the garden's flowering bushes came the faint laughter of students.

He turned his head and began whispering into my ear, so that only I could hear.

"First, I should tell you that I'm highly capable."

He formed a hand seal.

"Divine Art, Divine Concealment!"

One of his gloves disappeared.

"This is one of the Divine Arts I can use. I can make any object vanish from the world. Naturally, I can also dispose of murder evidence and corpses."

His newly bared fingers paddled through the air.

"When people in power refrain from killing, it isn't because they're good! Death King, it's simply because hiding the bodies is a nuisance, and they're afraid of being discovered later. I have no need to worry about such nuisances or fears!"

"..."

"During the first generation, the Tower was truly chaotic."

His face was bright and innocent.

"The revival of slavery, racism and ethnic animosity, terrorism, puppet factions, massacres, incitement and fabrication, ideological conflicts. It was like compressing human history and letting it melt in your mouth, you might say? The sense that [we'll all perish at this rate] spread among the small and medium-sized military factions—the present Five Great Guilds."

Black Dragon. The Union. The Pantheon. The Heavenly Martial School. The Vigilantes.

"Five people gathered."

The Inquisitor spoke as if reciting a heroic epic.

"The Black Dragon leader spoke first!"

["I'll skip the unnecessary talk. Let's enter into a permanent nonaggression pact."]

"The Count set a condition."

["Guarantee the Union exclusive rights to supplies from the outside world."]

"I added to that!"

["Every guild should have its own exclusive domain! That is my condition for cooperating in the cover-ups!"]

"Viper grumbled."

["Of all people, the craziest bastards turn out to be the most dependable. Tsk, tsk. The end times. It's the end times. ... But what the hell is this coffee? Why is it so bitter? Who gave me coffee I didn't even order? Hey. Hello? Hey?"]

"The Sword Star summed it up!"

["I will not say that we are 'doing what must be done.' I will say that we are 'doing what we want to do.' Tonight, we will kill people according to our beliefs, our judgment, and our methods."]

"That night, 4,653 people died."

The Inquisitor's smile remained bright and innocent.

"The next night, 10,171 people died. The night after that, 8,275 people died. The night after that, 7,412 people died, and the night after that, 23,781 people died."

They died.

They died. After repeating those words, the Inquisitor suddenly said brightly,

"And then."

He said that day had come without warning.

"That night, no one died."

The long cleanup operation had come to an end.

That night, he said, the Black Dragon leader had sobbed at the top of her lungs.

And the Sword Star...

["I will take responsibility and resign."]

Apparently, the Sword Star had been the leader of the Vigilantes at the time.

["And I will never speak of this affair again. I condoned the massacre. I participated in it. I did it despite knowing I should not. I will hate you forever. And I will despise myself just a little more."]

A parting of ways.

From that day on, the position of the Vigilantes' guild leader remained permanently vacant.

"After that, the Paladin took charge of the Vigilantes."

The Paladin.

The Vigilantes' deputy leader. The person who always introduced herself as their deputy leader, and had always been called that.

"The Paladin regretted it."

I suddenly recalled the night the Paladin had stood in the Sword Star's way alongside the Apothecary. Was that why there had been that subtle tension between the Paladin and the Sword Star?

"I didn't regret it! Those sacrifices were necessary!"

The Inquisitor smiled.

"But perhaps it's the effect of immersing myself in Lady Golden Silk Blossom? Now I sometimes find myself thinking something rather unexpected."

"What is it?"

"That things might have been different if you'd been there back then, Death King."

"..."

"How strange. I've never once felt this way before."

He lifted his head. The whispering was over. Magnolias bloomed against the sky he gazed up at.

"Do you always live with feelings like this? If only I'd done that then, if only I'd done this at that moment... Do you drift and wander through such thoughts, and still go on living?"

"..."

"Incredible."

The Inquisitor sighed, "Ah."

"That must be why..."

The fifth-ranked hunter spoke with a sigh.

"You're all so beautiful, and so very lovable."

"Inquisitor..."

"If I, too, could be like you..."

He fell silent for a moment.

"Hmm."

Then he continued.

"Hmm."

And then,

"This is troubling, Butler. More and more, I'm beginning to want to stay in this world."

As the Inquisitor smiled, a voice rang out.

[Your immersion in the character is deepening.]

[Your current immersion rate is 11%.]

I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to kill this person.

I couldn't kill someone who knew how to regret.

"My lady."

"Yes."

"When spring comes."

The Inquisitor waved his hand. The vanished glove had returned before I knew it, covering his bare hand. A white glove patterned with petals. He smiled softly.

"Spring is lovely, isn't it? Shall we go for a walk, Butler?"

Time seemed to stop.

I had no idea what expression was on my face. The Inquisitor studied it for a moment, then snorted. Clutching his stomach, he burst into laughter.

"Ahahaha! Ha! What a complexion, Death King! You went blue in an instant! Anyone would think you were a corpse!"

"You really... Even as a joke, something like that..."

"I'm sorry. With emotions, I seem to become something of a prankster! Oh, I see now. I think I finally understand what I've always felt toward you, Death King! It's just like looking at a dependable older brother!"

"An older brother...? You're first-generation. Aren't you actually older than me?"

"No comment!"

But, the Inquisitor added,

"One thing is certain: I'm rapidly immersing myself in Lady Golden Silk Blossom! It's gone up by 1% even while we've been talking. My current immersion rate is 32%. Tomorrow, it might pass 50%! That's how addicted I'm becoming to feeling [emotions]."

He touched the hair I'd tied back for him.

"I'm the protagonist of this apocalypse's story. But you're the protagonist of its ending. Death King, before I'm swept away by emotion and drown in Lady Golden Silk Blossom, please save the ending."

"Yes."

I nodded.

"I promise."

The Inquisitor smiled.

"I have faith in you, my butler."

That night, the Inquisitor's immersion rate passed 50%.

'In the end, Lady Silver Lily is the one who destroys this world.'

I headed to her residence under the pretext of visiting her sickbed.

'She's the key. I need to understand her. Lady Silver Lily's love, jealousy, tolerance, pride, possessiveness... I have to understand it all to bring this apocalypse to an end, too. I'm sure of it.'

Unlike yesterday, the duke's daughter's residence was bustling with servants.

"Excuse me."

I addressed them politely.

"Might I see the duke's daughter?"

"Who are you?"

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom sent me to pay a sick visit."

The servants' faces stiffened. It was common knowledge that their mistress and Lady Golden Silk Blossom were on bad terms. "Please wait a moment!" one attendant called, hurrying into the residence.

A little later, the attendant returned with a reluctant expression.

"... This way, please. My lady has agreed to receive your greetings."

"Thank you."

I followed the attendant. We arrived not at Lady Silver Lily's bedroom or reception room, but at her office. Countless servants were passing through the doorway to deliver reports.

"A letter from the Repanor region, my lady."

"Leave it on the left side of the desk."

"My lady, Lady Green Pine Hawk, the viscount's daughter, has sent a letter on behalf of the head of her house. Given the season, I suspect it is a request concerning grain loans..."

"Send it to the finance team for review, then bring it to me."

"My lady."

"Hmm."

Lady Silver Lily looked up from the documents she was reviewing at the desk in the middle of the office. Her red eyes swept over me in an instant. She spoke indifferently.

"We have a guest. Everyone, leave us."

She took the hourglass on her desk and flipped it over with a tap.

"You may take a fifteen-minute break."

The servants streamed out.

Only Lady Silver Lily and I remained in the spacious office.

"Well."

She set down her quill.

"Lady Golden Silk Blossom, the baron's daughter, sent you to visit me? How commendable. Until only a few days ago, the girl would grind her teeth the moment she saw me. She's changed in that short time."

"... I heard you'd collapsed from illness. You look well. I'm surprised."

"Despite appearances, I am a student. I need a suitable excuse if I'm to skip classes and attend to my work. Though calling me healthy is something of an overstatement."

Lady Silver Lily gave a small cough.

"I've been watching your exploits with interest. You did well to notice in such a short time that spies had infiltrated my household. My remark about a change in character applies not just to the baron's daughter, but to you as well. This time, at least, they've chosen an [actor] with a good head on his shoulders. A great blessing for the empire."

"..."

"If you weren't that clever, I wouldn't have agreed to receive your visit."

For a moment, I couldn't understand.

"... Pardon?"

"Hmm."

She narrowed her eyes.

"I thought you clever, but you have a surprisingly dim side."

"What... do you mean...?"

"This is my fourteenth iteration."

Her voice was calm.

"Though I'm merely a regressor who repeats the final ten days of her life. This is also the thirteenth time I've welcomed an [actor] like you."

Then a voice rang out.