Chapter: 184
I was already prepared for situations like this.
I applied the emergency escape system.
The emergency escape system Yuna is manipulating from outside is like a straw that can move a large amount of information at once. When Yuna sucks, I get yanked up in a whoosh.
This is designed to extract my consciousness all at once to save my life in emergencies, but there’s another function I’ve set aside. I can use that propulsion like an elevator.
By disassembling this body into information, tightly wrapping it up, and activating the system at the right intensity, I will shoot up to the sky, exit Yuli’s mental barrier, and then re-enter.
In short—it’s a respawn.
Thanks to the Queen’s complacency in neglecting defenses against exiting from the inside. Or perhaps she was confident she’d be able to stop me once I entered.
I pulled the rope tied to me and signaled Yuna. Once the casting was complete, I instructed her to pull me up halfway.
“-Got it. I’ll contact you as soon as it’s done…!”
Swish, swish, swish.
Click, click, click.
As my body began to transfer, I could feel the Queen reaching out desperately. Yuna was pulling up while the Queen was pulling down. I felt like I was in a tug-of-war.
I helped fend off the Queen’s interference. Combining Yuna’s output with my technique, even the Queen, no matter how formidable, would only be able to hold me back.
What I need to do here is… buy time until the casting is complete.
I pressed my ear against the door and listened closely. Finally, someone was coming. Analyzing the walking tempo, it was Yuli. She had arrived.
“Excuse me. I came to collect the information…”
I flicked my tongue over my lower lip. It was time for my mouth to do some work.
Just as Yuli was about to open the door and enter, I started with a well-placed moan, sounding like a lewd scoundrel.
“…?!”
Gasp! I could feel the shock radiating from her.
I alternated between male and female moans, making Yuli confused, flustered as she stumbled in front of the door, eventually becoming rigid.
It seems she caught on to the fact that there had never been an overlap of the moans from a man and a woman at the same time. She realized it pretty quickly, but this time, the move was more to shake her up rather than to buy time.
Yuli asked with a tense voice, “Who’s in there?”
“It’s me, of course.”
I responded in my usual calm voice. Yuli’s reaction was one of surprise, and her voice trembled slightly. She asked,
“Why are you in there…? More importantly, how did you get in?”
“Why do you think I’m here?”
“This is the Elimination Team’s base. No matter how high-ranking you are in the Defense Bureau… it seems there’s a lack of respect. Where is the person in charge? They should be here.”
“I’ve never seen them. Maybe they’ve left work? It’s quite late…”
I gave an answer that anyone would find suspicious.
From now on, I would be under relentless suspicion from the Queen. So I made my move first. I was about to play the role of someone trying to pin the crime on me.
That’s why I started our conversation with that unexpected moan.
Someone on the other side of this door could mimic several voices. I had to lay down this premise first.
I couldn’t let her open the door, thinking, “Oh, it’s you. I’m coming in!” All that mixed with a bit of wariness.
I moved my hands on purpose to stir the air, letting the scent of blood seep through the gap in the door. Sensing the foreboding smell of blood heightened Yuli’s suspicions exactly as I intended.
“Who are you…?”
“It’s me! Your neighbor! Didn’t we see each other today? We played chess, right?”
“Chess was the day before yesterday.”
“Oh, right, right. It was the day before yesterday. You know, the older you get, the fuzzier your memories become.”
Looks like that was enough for now.
—Are you ready? I’ll pull you up on cue!
Just at the right timing, I received a message. The respawn preparations were complete. When I was about to make a significant escape, Yuli opened her mouth.
With a hesitant and wavering voice, she said, “…Um, please. Tell me. Are you… that person? No, I mean…?”
There was a brief pause before she pronounced ‘that.’ In that moment, it seemed she realized she didn’t actually know my name. Perhaps that amplified her anxiety, as her voice trembled quite a bit.
How innocent.
The Yuli on the other side of the door was naive. She was unable to control her emotions and purely asked an assumed threat about their identity, even knowing a suitable answer would come back.
She probably hoped for it not to be the case. Her cheerful neighbor now turned out to be hostile; she was rejecting that possibility.
In her lonely life, where only scoundrels revealing lewd intentions sought her out, perhaps I could have become someone she could confide in…
I mean, I had to respond, right?
I could just do it like I always had. Deceive her.
At this moment, it was better to remain ambiguous and not affirm or deny anything. I wanted to instill the idea that there’s someone trying to pin the crime on that ‘other’ as I practiced my voice to resemble ‘him.’
Crafting a believable lie so I could ensnare Yuli was simple. I just had to respond with a little ambiguity.
Then suddenly, my tongue froze.
“…”
What’s going on? Did I get attacked by the Queen? That’s not it; the Queen was too busy tugging with Yuna. I had to say something. A lie.
As I prodded myself to speak, my thoughts spilled out.
…Is this really okay?
What lie? Get a grip. I’m currently fighting the Queen to save Yuli. I need to get past this crisis, build closeness with her, and get my hands on the key.
…To save Yuli, does that mean it’s fine to toy with her heart like this?
It’s different. I’m doing this to save her. Besides, the one in front of me is the consciousness of her childhood… she’s not really herself. And this is all part of the plan. There’s no reason to create unnecessary variables in the smoothly flowing story.
I shook my head to dispel the voice of that boy ringing in my head. Don’t waver. Those are foolish thoughts.
Yet, in the end, I couldn’t reply to Yuli. I fell silent and pulled the rope. Suddenly, I felt my body lifting away from the ground.
“Wait, answer me…!!”
Yuli burst through the door, but there was no one there.
Only a dead body, shredded documents, and traces stained with blood remained.
===============================================================
Since that day, the skirmishes between the Queen and I had quieted down.
She occasionally sent probing attacks, but nothing was as intensive as the traps I experienced then. It felt more like a search.
It seemed she realized that she couldn’t consume me without somehow neutralizing my emergency escape system.
Thinking she needed to hammer down on that, she often tried to reset me.
She moved between the ends of the map, darting into rooms that didn’t allow for escape until she captured me, and it seemed to make the Queen quite irritated. The clack clack sounds were becoming more frantic.
Moreover, I could sense the Queen’s hunger. The more I displayed my abilities, the more desperate she became to gobble me whole.
I pretended to slouch a tad while performing, though I guess that hasn’t been revealed yet.
It was a good flow.
Up until now, that was all expected. Except for one thing.
…I don’t really know how I feel. Various frivolous thoughts keep bubbling up. Was I a bit harsh on Bennett and the others? Should I maybe be drafting a heartfelt letter to Irid?
Maybe I should seriously start preparing to propose to Yuna before it’s too late. All these thoughts just kept bubbling up.
And a sense of guilt about Yuli.
I understand the reason behind this sudden shift in emotions. I’m a severed consciousness, existing within Yuli’s mental world. As such, something in my head feels both physically and magically distant from me.
Theoretically, I should be less affected by ‘that.’
Because of that, my somewhat lacking conscience suddenly blossomed, leading to unnecessary worrying in this urgent and crucial moment…
I consciously shook my head to clear away those stray thoughts.
I should keep going as I am. Just keep moving forward, and things will work out. Don’t do anything regretful. Haven’t I got to save her? Let’s focus on the operation.
I predicted the Queen had set the stage in the year 440 for a reason, and I realized that the organization ‘Red Regeneration’ was the key keyword.
Since I knew the Queen didn’t have the skill to weave a story from scratch, I assumed whatever was about to happen would be a distorted version of actual history.
What that means is, if I could figure out the events from that time, I’d be able to predict the future.
Having been acquainted with Yuli Lanster, there should be someone at the Academy who would know about Yuli at that time… conveniently, there’s someone like that, Irid’s dedicated agent, Kirby.
I flicked the rope to send a signal.
—You want me to find out…? Okay, I know the location. I’ll send a butterfly to ask and report back.
“Please do. I’ll stick close to Yuli in the meantime.”
—Okay, then. Hang in there…!
“There’s not much time left, so let’s give it our all.”
And with that, our communication ended.
===============================================================
“Here’s the official order.”
I handed Yuli the royal command document. This was a paper I had requested from Irid shortly after coming to the Academy to cover the sword demon manufacturing ruckus… which I had carefully remembered and replicated.
Its content stated that I would be joining the Elimination Team to support Yuli personally.
I thought it would minimize the time she spends away from me and close the physical distance.
Yuli read through the document meticulously and nodded.
“…There’s no mistake, then. So we’ll be working together?”
“That’s right. I’m not a field agent, so I might be a bit frail, but I’m pretty sharp, so… it should help, right?”
“Quite a bit, indeed. But… what did you do last night?”
“I slept well. Why?”
I feigned ignorance, and Yuli shook her head.
“Never mind. It’s nothing…”
Yuli was suspicious about last night but looked rather lost. Isn’t it human psychology to first suspect when information is given so openly?
Logically speaking, if this guy in front of her was indeed the culprit, he wouldn’t have been so careless. While she couldn’t be completely sure, she’d probably think that way.
Besides that, I sense she didn’t want to suspect me.
After that, Yuli asked me several questions to nudge me for an alibi about last night. It was evident that I had a solid alibi, and she wanted to hear it to feel at ease.
I’d have wanted to leave one if I could. But I used a long-distance teleportation via re-controlling, so any NPC witness would be useless if the Queen waved a finger once.
Yuli hesitated for a moment.
“…Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve heard your name.”
That was clear she wanted me to reveal my name. I hesitated. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t give it, and if I made up another name, that would be troublesome.
“Is it okay to just call you that?”
“What? Is it confidential… or something?”
“Not really.”
Once my name got established, the Queen would have more means to attack. Just setting my name on all sorts of suspicious documents would be considerably threatening.
So I intended to gloss over it.
“There’s going to be a small festival with the Elimination Team. I heard it’s for team bonding. You know about it, right? Oh, of course you would, since you’re a Defense Bureau agent…”
“…And?”
“If you have some free time, umm, if you’re available, maybe we could…”
I observed Yuli’s eyes carefully as she spoke. It didn’t seem like an invitation for a date. Certainly not love or budding feelings. There was no reason for such a bold proposal.
A splash of uncontrollable loneliness lingered in her youthful gaze.
Ah, it’s easy to imagine.
Although part of the Elimination Team, she lives in seclusion in that remote mansion. Her initial prickly demeanor towards me during our first meeting. And now this fragile appearance.
…Has she been ostracized?
It seems that within the Elimination Team, that gang of dark lovers… she was acting rather reverently towards me. I thought she was doing fine, but perhaps it wasn’t so.
Or could it mean that the Elimination Team was somewhat different from my perceptions?
She was like a timid child who felt like an outsider. Trying to bring a new friend for a party of classmates.
Could she be wanting to soothe her loneliness even in this way?
My heart sank.
I hastily conjured reasons in my mind for why I needed to participate in that festival with the Elimination Team.
The story will ostensibly unfold around the Elimination Team. It’s essential to understand the composition and characteristics of that group.
Until now, I had thought it best to not approach too much, yet I had just pulled out a joining card for the Elimination Team. So I nodded enthusiastically.
“Perfect timing. I’m free that day.”
“…I haven’t even told you when it is yet.”
Oh, right. I felt a bit awkward and scratched my head, avoiding her gaze. Yuli looked at me and burst into soft laughter, blooming like spring buds.
Then, she asked again.
“…For the festival, you’ll need to write your name in the guest book.”
“…”
The thought that this might be the Queen’s trap dawned on me too late. A festival at this timing? Isn’t that a bit too coincidental? At least I should’ve waited for Yuna to gather information before… really ascertain if the festival was happening before confirming my attendance.
So, maybe I should’ve said my schedule was uncertain and would let her know later if I could participate.
But that would clearly lead to disappointment for her. I’d already answered, so going back would wipe the smile off her face.
Moreover, this is ‘something that has already happened.’ Me becoming a confidant to cheer up young Yuli wouldn’t change the past. Even if I laboriously build a sandcastle on the beach, it’ll dissolve when the tide comes in.
So I needed to respond quickly…
“Could you call me Mima?”
“…Mima?”
“Someone who looked exactly like you used to call me a crazy wizard. I shortened it to two syllables.”
I must be crazy myself.
Yuli mulled over the random nickname I just spewed out. Her lips quirked up as she repeated “Mima.” It felt a bit strange.
Though it’s a fake name, isn’t this the first time she called me by a name?
More than that. I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I heard someone call me by name. I had forgotten my name. If I were to define my life by what I can recall, this would be a first.
Yuli smiled brightly and said, “I see. So you, Mima, are a peculiar person who leaps about wherever. That person who looked just like me must have had quite the trouble dealing with you.”
“Actually, it was the opposite! I was the one always losing.”
“…You mean they would win against you? What kind of person are they?”
“Well, large bosoms, for one.”
Yuli shot me a look that seemed to say, “You aren’t a eunuch, are you?” For that moment, I decided to be Yuli’s festival partner among the Elimination Team.
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