CH 96

Ratta looked so excited that she wagged her tail.

―Wake up.

Ratta strode over, touched the corpse, and following the confident voice of her voice, the ghost appeared.

Swoosh.

Bethel suddenly thrust her sword into the ghost and asked.

At the same time, Ratta was startled and crouched down as if to hide her neck.

Knowing that Bethel didn’t do anything useless, Lucion watched quietly.

[Who sent you?]

Bethel asked sharply.

The woman smirked as if she didn’t realize she was dead.

[Ha. Do you want me to tell you?]

[Kneel.]

As Bethel gained her power, the woman, who was only a regular ghost, was startled and soon sank into her spot, shaking at Bethel’s darkness.

[Who sent you?]

Bethel raised the same question in the same voice.

However, the ghost seemed completely different from a moment ago, her confident expression was nowhere to be seen and she was drenched in fear.

[I-I don’t know. I just heard it through Stepping Stone.]

‘You were an assassin?’

Lucion smirked.

Killing an assassin while he was on the way to hire one.

[Who’s the target?]

Bethel asked again, narrowing her eyes.

[It’s Lucion Cronia.]

‘…Me?’

Lucion was surprised for a moment but soon burst into laughter.

“Well done, Hume.”

“Yes. Now I want to compliment my hands.”

Now Hume was relieved and smiled.

[Did you expect it, Lord Lucion?]

Bethel asked.

“Somewhat. The time is right for the enemy to move. By the way, Bethel, how did you know?”

Lucion swallowed the words ‘even Teacher didn’t know’.

[I knew it from the atmosphere and smell. Because I’m a death knight. Maybe I would have said it if Hume hadn’t killed her.]

Russell suddenly coughed at Bethel’s words.

[What are you going to do, Lord Lucion? You know, unless you figure out where Stepping Stone is, you don’t know who moved that assassin.]

“Do you know any information?”

Lucion looked at the assassin and asked.

[No… I don’t. Really! ….Ah.  O-Other assassins were also hired.]

“Kill her, Bethel.”

Lucion said without hesitation as if he didn’t need to hear anymore.

He didn’t need a guy without information.

Isn’t it natural that someone else besides her will come to kill him?

―Really, Lucion?

Ratta spoke out, but Bethel’s sword had already cut down the assassin at once.

Whoosh!

Lucion saw with his own eyes the end of the ghost who died completely at the hands of the death knight and couldn’t go to the sky.

Crack.

The assassin’s face cracked.

Once a crack occurred, it spread throughout the body.

[W-Wait a minute.]

The assassin struggled as if she had fallen into the sea, clutching her neck.

Even though she was a ghost, blood stood all over her body.

Soon, in her eyes, there was only the deep abyss of fear.

[My body is weird…]

She couldn’t finish her words, and her face fell apart.

The wreckage remained intact on the floor.

“Is it still going to stay like this?”

Lucion asked.

Unlike the ghost sent to the sky, the body didn’t disappear.

He didn’t have any sympathy for her because she was trying to kill him.

[No, look carefully.]

Russell pointed his finger to the floor.

Plop.

Something popped out of the darkness and swallowed the pieces.

It looked like a fish.

Ratta looked at the disappearing assassin with sad eyes.

[It ends up being eaten by those guys. It’s called the Soul Cleaner.]

Russell’s eyes, watching its end, were calm.

―Ratta is… sad. Ratta hopes Lucion doesn’t do this next time.

Ratta said in a mournful voice.

“Why?”

There was no way that Lucion’s tone could sound nice when Ratta was covering the person who tried to kill him.

It was cold.

―When this happens, that soul will disappear forever. No one will remember who that soul is. Ratta doesn’t want Lucion to do that.

Lucion let out a short breath when he heard that even the memory of the person who remembered that soul would disappear.

“…I’ll think about it.”

[It’s going well. I wanted to tell you this when I had the chance someday.]

Russell looked at Lucion quite seriously.

Lucion, who was just trying to appease Ratta, stopped acting.

[If I or Bethel gets attacked by a corrupt warlock or a death knight, you’ll put an end to it.]

“…What.”

Lucion was speechless at the sudden remark.

He felt his face distorted enough that he thought he was glad he was wearing a mask.

“Do I have to…?”

[There’s no future for me and Bethel. It’s natural to choose between going to the cycle of life and death or being forgotten forever, as Ratta said.]

“Do I… Do I have to do it?”

Lucion’s voice trembled.

He knew Lucion’s end in the novel.

《”…Brother, please remember. Me. And my teacher, Cough, Russell… You know, Russell. I remember. To keep remembering, not forgetting…”》

Now he could understand why Lucion in the novel said that.

He understood it perfectly.

He wanted to live a normal life like everyone else.

He wanted to enjoy happiness in that mediocrity.

It was the only wish he had hoped for, who was suffering because of ghosts every day.

One day, Russell miraculously came to him and changed his life.

But to think that Russell was not in his happiness.

‘I can’t do that.’

[You’re a warlock. And my student. It’s only natural that I want to leave the last to you.]

“No, it won’t happen.”

Lucion took off his mask and looked at Russell.

“I will never leave you alone, no matter what, so that Teacher doesn’t disappear.”

Lucion squeezed his hands to crush the mask.

The determination in his eyes was so strong that it surprised Russell.

[‘…I didn’t know you’d be so repulsed.’]

He thought Lucion would understand.

But he was mistaken.

“So, please… Please, I hope you don’t say that again.”

Lucion’s eyes fluttered as if he were about to shed tears.

Russell bit his lips at the sight.

Lucion was not yet an adult but a child.

[…Sorry.]

Russell put his hand on Lucion’s head and patted it slowly.

[Sorry, Lucion. I made a slip of the tongue.]

Thud!

Ratta tried to hit Russell’s torso.

Russell understood and accepted it.

―That was bad, Russell!

[Right, I’m the bad guy.]

[Do you mind if I slap you in the back of your head, Russell?]

Bethel asked, showing her clenched fist.

[Yeah, if that’s what Lucion wants.]

Russell smiled awkwardly and looked at Lucion.

Lucion wore the mask again.

“Let’s go.”

Lucion’s voice still sounded lost.

* * *

[Look over there, there’s a place where the roof is awkwardly painted over, right?]

Bethel pointed with her finger and flew away and stood on the roof.

[It’s here.]

Lucion waved his hand to show that he’d seen it.

And he smirked at Russell.

“Do you still feel numb?”

[Bethel’s hands are really spicy.]

“Isn’t it a relief that it’s Bethel, not Hume?”

Lucion glanced at Hume, who was blinking.

Knowing that he had done something worth being beaten over, Russell held back his itchy mouth despite Lucion’s slightly arrogant words.

―Hop! Did it hurt when Ratta hit your body?

Ratta’s hips twitched as she walked on, looking at Russell in surprise.

―R-Ratta did it because Ratta was angry, but Ratta is sorry if it hurt.

[Ratta hurt the most.]

As Russell let out a laugh, Ratta clung to him and rubbed his face.

―It’s Ratta’s fault! Ratta is sorry!

“Young Master.”

Knowing there was no one around, Hume called Lucion.

“Yes, Hume.”

“I didn’t understand your feelings.”

“If you don’t understand, you don’t have to understand.”

Lucion answered lightly.

―Yeah, that’s fine. Ratta didn’t know at first, but Lucion’s darkness has increased and Ratta is getting to know his feelings.

Ratta spoke out, clinging to Russell.

“I heard that ‘sympathy’ is necessary to live as a person. I felt today that I lacked that ability.”

“Hume.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“You are you. You don’t have to be a person. I chose you, Hume, not Hume who imitates people.”

Hume’s smile settled down prettily as if he had shaken off his worries in an instant.

He bowed her head.

“Thank you, Young Master. Young Master like a milestone to me.”

“You don’t have to talk about it behind your back.”

Lucion turned his head slightly and walked to Bethel’s spot.

“…Young Master.”

Hume spoke out again after walking some distance.

Somehow it sounded disturbing.

“What’s wrong?”

Lucion turned his head, and Hume’s right eye was burning in darkness as if he was in a delusion.

“…Hume?”

Lucion approached him in surprise.

[Why is that… Hume? What’s wrong with your right eye?]

Even Russell, who had been leading the way, was horrified without looking back.

“I don’t know. Suddenly, I see a line.”

“What do you mean a line?”

“I don’t know either. But I feel a strong pull. I think I have to follow the line.”

―Does it hurt?

Ratta approached Hume and looked at him anxiously.

“It doesn’t hurt. Thank you for your concern.”

Hume squatted down and patted Ratta.

[What happened?]

Bethel flew back toward Lucion, perhaps sensing a strange atmosphere while looking at it from a distance.

Then Bethel’s eyes widened.

[Hume. Your eyes… What’s wrong?]

“Bethel. I think we should put off recruiting the assassin for a while.”

Lucion decided to change direction.

[It’s fine. By the way, are you okay, Hume? Did something happen?]

Hume shook his head at Bethel’s question.

“Nothing happened. Suddenly, my right eye tingled and I saw a strange line.”

‘No way…’

Lucion could only think of one thing.

The black bead that death knight took out yesterday.

After seeing it, Hume dreamed for the first time, and although the plate came out of nowhere, didn’t he say that the word ‘guide’ that was brought up there was referring to Hume?

“Guide me.”

Lucion didn’t hesitate.

Not meeting the assassins today wouldn’t change a thing, but it was different with Hume.

In the first place, Hume in the novel was a subordinate of the middle boss, Lucion, and there was nothing special other than his setting that he was strong.

However, Hume, who he actually met, was a monster that had already disappeared a long time ago, born at the hands of a warlock.

The fact that he used darkness as his main source of energy and had to receive darkness every certain period from Lucion.

It was confirmed that if darkness was not added for each cycle, Hume would actually lose control of his body and become a living doll that couldn’t even speak.

‘But I can’t believe he can see the line all of a sudden.’

Lucion was surprised but he was also satisfied with the changing content of the novel.

Hume in the novel was not an important character.

But now he had a strong feeling that something would change drastically.

After waking far with Hume, Russell suddenly raised his voice.

[Wait a minute]

“What’s wrong?”

Lucion asked.

[He’s here.]

“Who are you talking about?”

[…The death knight that you met last time.]

Clang.

Bethel suddenly drew her sword out.

She was furious and even her cloak was flying.

Lucion was stunned by the energy she showed.

“Bethel?”

[There are warlocks.]

Bethel clenched her teeth.

Her eyes became more fierce.

[There are warlocks over there!]

Flick!

When Russell snapped his fingers, Bethel’s fluttering cape calmed down.

[Calm down, Bethel. Those warlocks are not the ones who killed you. It would be different if it was before, but since you signed with Lucion, you need to control your anger. If you get corrupted, it’ll affect Lucion.]

[…I am sorry.]

Bethel gripped her sword tightly.

He could see her hands shaking.

“Hey.”

When Lucion approached the death knight and raised his voice, the guy who was excitedly slicing a warlock responded.

[You are…]

The death knight, who tried to pretend to know Lucion, suddenly looked around.

The moment he saw Russell, he let go of the sword in his hand.