Chapter 96

“If she falls, won’t all that silicone burst?”

“Seriously, how much work did she have done? Just look at those knife scars.”

Erabelle couldn’t see a thing. Of course those freaks could—they could probably make out an ant’s asshole from four hundred kilometers away. Four hundred kilometers was practically the distance from Seoul to Busan. God, these otherworldly lunatics. Even knowing they had separate vision for when they weren’t in combat, it still gave her the creeps.

What good was a beautiful exterior? They were humanoid monsters so awful that she would feel guilty even comparing them to harmless James.

Amid those monsters, Erabelle had nevertheless found her own small pleasure and was happily enjoying it alone.

Rrrrrrrumble—.

Until she heard that sound.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrumble....

Abandoning even her tablet, she shot to her feet and looked up at the window.

Frost was creeping across the glass. Her breath froze white, and a chill swept in that numbed her fingertips. Then darkness descended in an instant.

A rift was opening in the sky above the capital.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrumble—.

The hideous noise continued in an unbroken chain.

That meant the rift was still widening. Erabelle cautiously stepped out onto the balcony.

Rrrrrrrumble....

Beneath the dim sky, only the shield’s reflected light darted wildly back and forth. It felt as though she had returned to a conflict zone.

‘The frequency of scattered chain rifts has increased dramatically.’

‘At this rate, the capital will become indistinguishable from the front lines within twenty-four hours....’

The Prince’s aides delivered their situation reports to her. Unlike the deathly pale aides, the Dogs were calm.

In any event, this was the gist of it.

Contrary to humanity’s belief that rifts spread gradually outward from conflict zones, they were erupting sporadically everywhere. Just like the one that had swallowed Count Vermilion’s ship.

It was as though someone had been plugging one breach, only for cracks to begin spreading in every direction.

Information that had been kept under control and hidden from her while she was in the Imperial Palace came flooding in.

Apparently, this had begun as far back as a year ago.

‘A year ago....’

The timing was suspicious.

Erabelle closed her eyes as several thoughts occurred to her at once.

‘...This definitely never happened in the original story.’

Of course she knew the current situation had already diverged considerably from the original. But the original wasn’t merely a story.

It was.......

She opened her eyes and stared uneasily at the swarms of monsters and clusters of the dead clinging densely to the shield.

“The dead who should pass through oblivion and enter the cycle are stagnating and rotting inside the monsters....”

She remembered the Sanctuary priest’s words.

“At this rate, our world cannot escape destruction.”

Something was happening. Something definitely....

“Trying to cheat? I’ll chop your fucking hand off.”

“I could live with losing a hand.”

“You son of a bitch.”

The Dogs, of course, were not concerned in the slightest. They were far too busy concentrating on the poker game in progress to spare any attention for the current crisis.

Erabelle alone continued to gaze quietly up at the sky.

A cold wind brushed past her ear. The Prince’s long drop earring swayed and struck against itself. Erabelle was absently fingering it when Kancher suddenly addressed her, making her turn.

“Hypothetically speaking, Lieutenant.”

“Yes?”

“If you could command all those monsters and the dead, what would you do?”

She had no idea why he was suddenly asking such a question. While Aries, who stood beside him, gave Kancher a pitying look, Erabelle asked back in complete seriousness.

“Can they mine?”

“...Excuse me?”

“I mean mining. Perhaps the dead cannot, but the monsters should be capable of it, shouldn’t they? Mineral prices are exceptionally high these days. With a little effort, I could become filthy rich in no time.”

“.......”

“Or what about freight services? If they handle the initial sorting, I can take care of the rest of the deliveries....”

“If you need money, why not ask Dezeb for it? All you have to do is say the word, and he would probably give you the main ship itself.”

Erabelle felt as though she had heard something similar before. She regarded Kancher with faint wariness.

“Why are you looking at me like....”

“I suppose I couldn’t put it up as collateral, could I? But I know a bank with an excellent interest-rate product. Once you factor in maintenance costs, depositing it with the bank and drawing money from it would be the quickest and easiest approach.”

Kancher suddenly looked as though he had aged ten years.

“Was she always...?”

He turned to Aries, who was staring into space with slightly unfocused eyes.

“Was she always like this?”

“It’s easier if you give up.”

“No, I’m seriously asking whether she’s always been like this. At this rate, what if she really does drag us off to a mine one day...?”

“I told you, it’s easier if you give up. Don’t try to understand her. Just accept it.”

So apparently it was possible. Taking the advice deeply to heart, Erabelle turned back toward the darkened view beyond the window.

There was nothing she could do immediately merely by watching.

Perhaps she would be better off playing poker like the Dogs. But this was still preferable to poker. She was stealthily taking out her tablet again when Aries held out a hand.

“Hand it over now, please.”

Why? Wh-What for...?

Her hands trembling, Erabelle was reluctantly about to surrender the tablet when Aries recoiled in disgust.

“Not the tablet. The earring!”

“Oh.”

Relieved, Erabelle tucked the tablet back under her arm and removed the earring.

“You said it was easier if you accepted it.”

Kancher sneered, but Aries, despite having asked for the earring, did not take it.

“.......”

Aries merely stared at Erabelle as she wordlessly thrust it forward.

“Captain?”

“Oh.”

Aries quickly opened a metal case that looked distinctly ominous.

Despite its ordinary exterior, the inside was filled with black sorcerous characters tangled together like chains. The way they shifted slightly made them look even more sinister.

It seemed like some kind of artifact case....

“You can put it in here.”

Following the instructions, Erabelle placed the drop earring inside the case. Crrrreeeeak.... The faintly undulating sorcerous characters pulled taut, producing the skin-crawling shriek of metal being stretched.

Chains wrapped around the golden ornament, a round ring hung with three strands.

Erabelle edged away.

“Accept it. Just accept it....”

Aries muttered while closing the case, only to grimace upon seeing Erabelle already trying to sneak her tablet open again.

“Aren’t you going back?”

“Am I going back?”

“Then you should, shouldn’t you?”

“When...?”

“Now.”

The instant Aries answered, Erabelle’s body was shoved backward.

No one caught her as she fell.

The body sprawled on the floor opened its eyes again some time later. Looking around in confusion, the Prince muttered,

“What did I...?”

Kancher subtly signaled the Dogs with his eyes.

“What did I do? What did I do to you......?”

Still disoriented, the Prince spotted the metal case lying open with a grating creak and flinched, reaching for his ear.

Then his eyes flew wide, and he urgently stretched out a hand.

But with a click, the case snapped shut. Even the grating noise was swallowed without a trace, leaving it looking like an entirely ordinary briefcase.

“...Kancher.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Kancher answered politely with a broad grin, but the Prince was too fixated on the case to notice.

“Retrieve that object at once.”

“That may be difficult.”

Only then did the Prince look up at the chief of his knights.

“It doesn’t belong to you, Your Highness.”

“It is mine.”

“Oh, come on. We both know it isn’t.”

“It belongs to me—!!”

The Prince’s voice rose to a shriek. Startled by his own outburst, he paused to steady his breathing. He straightened his disheveled clothes as he rose.

“Kancher, that is an extremely dangerous object.”

“What a liar. The divinity itself isn’t dangerous. It’s the god who lost it that’s dangerous.”

“...God?”

“That monster is already...,” the Prince muttered. Then he smiled and shook his head.

“I don’t know who told you what, but every word of it is a lie. If you cannot trust me, you are welcome to confirm it with Sanctuary.”

“Of course you’d tell us to check with your accomplices. They must have their hands full over there right now, too.”

Kancher grinned again.

The Prince was about to shout in fury when the shadow of tentacles fell across his face. Slowly, he turned his head and looked at the hundreds of tentacles encircling him from behind.

The tentacles, packed with teeth and dripping digestive fluid, swallowed the Prince in an instant.

“That’s what you get for tampering with the Lieutenant’s body. Otherwise, you could have lived another six months—until we finished training your half-brother.”

“Could you make your face match what you’re saying? It’s fucking disgusting. Why are you spouting that nonsense with a smile?”

“Why does this crazy bastard keep picking fights with me?”

Kancher snapped irritably, then asked about the puppet that would fill in for the Prince during the six months required to train the Emperor’s illegitimate son.

“When’s it getting here?”

The Prince was scheduled to be sent directly to the laboratory, so they needed a puppet to replace him.

“It should be delivered soon.”

“Let’s not talk about deliveries, freight, mines, or anything like that for a while.”

“I told you, it’s easier if you accept it.”

“And what are you going to do if we really end up in a mine?”

“Let’s... ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) not.”

The two looked at each other and heaved a deep sigh.