The little lady is not just a naive girl.
She was raised under the harsh training of the foundation.
A girl like that couldn’t possibly be just a nice child.
“If it’s the Arcadia Princess, she might be shocked by your stories. But the other side was at fault.”
Grrk, kugh!
“At the moment you told me that story, I had no choice but to kill you. I do not wish for the princess to hate the little lady.”
The Pierrot Masked Group follows Oknodie.
They are a human trafficking organization that kidnaps children.
They are also closely related to slave trading.
Once they took off their masks and revealed their faces, Jezel’s informants recognized them and had already relayed their identities.
From the oddly familiar threats, Jezel could even guess where Oknodie’s circus training methods originated.
Oknodie was molded through that training.
From a young age when personalities could be established, they underwent a twisted development.
The eerie glimpses that sometimes shine through their purity must be the erroneous knowledge instilled by such training.
Perhaps they have already stained their hands.
But if they used the Pierrot Masked Group as bait, maybe the ones who trained them and forced them to take the path of evil.
Comrades, peers, friends.
Whatever you call them, if Oknodie grew up witnessing their peers die or be sold due to insufficient achievements alongside her,
“Not a single person will sympathize with those like you, who were used and cast aside.”
The truth is heavy, but it’s not heavy enough for him to abandon Oknodie. She had her reasons, qualifications, and causality matching her actions.
Grrk!
Hisss. The pain is short. Go quietly.
Grruur…
As she tossed the lifeless corpse into a nearby trash bin, Jezel wiped the blood off her hands with a handkerchief.
“Please take care of the cleanup.”
The informants, dressed as cleaners, openly carried the trash bin to the main road.
The citizens frowned and distanced themselves from the dirty cleaners but did not suspect the contents.
*
It happened.
While rolling over the mud, the executive of the Sebiche family realized.
“The princess has teamed up with the other minions of the foundation.”
Wahyhiemhai Foundation.
They and the Sebiche family have had a long-standing connection.
The Sebiche family supplies the young children needed by the foundation, and the foundation provides the grown slaves as excellent talents in various fields.
Talented individuals who obey orders and don’t hesitate to get their hands dirty at times.
The trading of human resources leads to exchanges between trading companies and organizations.
As generations have passed, without the people of Wahyhiemhai Foundation, the wealth of the Sebiche family would halve in an instant.
As the family grew larger, the foundation did too.
It wouldn’t be strange if the factions that the princess and the Sebiche family held hands with were different.
“It’s tough. In faction conflicts, one must never side with the losing side…”
Just like in any faction conflict, once you lose in a power struggle, every member of the faction gets cut off one by one.
“But we do not have the privilege to choose that line.”
The weak are always coerced.
“Take this hand.”
“If you don’t, I’ll drive you out right here.”
“I’ll make all your efforts go to waste.”
“I’ll even take your life.”
He was no different.
Starting from threats, involving himself in the family’s troubles, and now, it was too late for him to switch sides while pretending it wasn’t his concern.
The moment he grabbed the line, they forced him to be an accomplice too.
“If the princess disappears with that slush fund, we’re done for. We must get it back no matter what.”
He easily recognized the princess’s appearance.
No disguise could hide such looks.
And the opposite is also true.
The Arcadia Princess is a brilliant talent, skilled in both martial and magical arts.
She is not the kind of princess who can be unrecognized if she’s disguised and lurking.
“But didn’t she already head toward the academy? We are already late.”
“Why not go back to the family now and beg for forgiveness, or just run away?”
“Foolish kids.”
A sigh escapes him.
Do they really believe that their hands are less dirty than his, the captain?
It’s a short thought.
Too short.
“Still don’t understand?”
“I don’t get it. Why can’t we run away?”
“Even if the family collapses, the pursuers looking to lay their hands on that wealth will chase us to the end. And our lives are included in that wealth.”
“…!”
“Should I make it even clearer?”
“Let’s run away. If the executive goes with us, can’t we manage somehow?”
“Indeed. You needed an explanation simpler than this.”
“What?! You needed to explain this much and didn’t get it.”
The executive let out a heavy sigh.
The smoke escaping from his lips enveloped the face of his subordinate, who had been urging him to escape until the last moment.
Cough! Cough, khack!
The subordinate, pale-faced, clutched his throat and thumped his chest in agony.
With eyes of resentment, the captain of the Sebiche family’s watchers, Cloud, shook his head.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve given you several opportunities. Don’t think foolish thoughts. Just give up. Yet you still didn’t get it.”
Kuhh! Hoooorrr…!
The panicked writhing of his subordinate was nothing more than flailing.
Even with a healthy body, he could not afford to talk about victory due to the vast difference in their capabilities, and currently, he was unable to breathe.
Cloud easily evaded flailing blades, grabbing the swordhandle and kicking the legs out from under him.
The scene of his subordinate, disarmed and clutching his neck as he crawled on the floor, was pitiful itself.
Yet, after living a life of misery pursued by the family, isn’t this short pain better?
“Look. This is the most complete death a betrayer can meet.”
As they gazed at the subordinates who had met a miserable end, fear clouded the eyes of the other watchers.
“School life filled with love and friendship, dreams of tomorrow and the future—all that is not permitted for you. The family has shown you grace. The foundation has also shown you grace. Repay that grace.”
“Even if the opponent is the princess who’s receiving support from another faction of the foundation and the chief scholarship student?”
“It wasn’t them who raised you.”
“…What should we do?”
Now, you’ve finally spoken rightly.
Cloud looked up at the sky.
“Due to distance, we cannot move to the academy in one transmission station. First, we’ll catch up before using the last transmission station heading toward the academy. After that…”
The roguish princess’s manner was delightful, but now she should feel regret.
“After that, I’ll summon rain with my magic. During the rain, the transmission station won’t function. That 10 minutes will be the first and last chance for retaliation.”
If they fail, only death awaits.
The pursuit of the Sebiche family’s watchers has begun.
*
“Of all times, it just had to rain.”
While waiting for the next transmission station to activate, Arcadia pouted at the window.
“Ugh, I hate it…”
“Di hates the rain?”
“When it rains, troublesome events come.”
“Haha. True. I was really surprised when the heavy rain came in the weekly event. I never imagined we’d have to use a boat to go to school in the morning.”
“It was like that.”
As always, Oknodie’s conversation was oddly off-key.
In response, Jezel quietly approached her secret escort, hiding her identity.
“How’s the alert situation?”
“The communication jamming mana station just activated.”
“…!”
Something is starting.
Before she could think, an explosive bomb came crashing through the window of the transfer station.
Boom!
With a loud blast, her balance crumbled.
Though her body was safe thanks to the automatic defense mechanism, the use of gunpowder snapped her back to reality.
Bombs are national controlled items with usage severely restricted in any country.
Mining. Subjugation. War.
To use them, one must report and obtain a permit for these hazardous materials.
If they used it for terrorism, one can only think of one group.
“The watchers of the Sebiche family. They’ve tracked us down to this place.”
“They came after this without giving up? They plan to reclaim the slush fund even if it means killing Arcadia! Go protect Arcadia at once. If it’s too late…”
Greater vibrations and force than the previous explosion transmitted from beyond the corner.
That shock was enough to send one’s body soaring, rolling across the hallway floor.
Could it be too late already? Cold sweat dripped down Jezel’s brow as the sight of the wrecked waiting room came into view.
“Arcadi…!”
She wanted to call her name and find her.
She wanted to see with her own eyes that she was safe.
She wanted to confirm that things hadn’t gone wrong.
Driven by immense anxiety, she bit her lip hard.
This cannot happen.
If inside, somewhere, Arcadia is still alive and responds, then that sound would inevitably reach the enemies through the smoke.
Trying to calm her fears would lead her to certain death.
-Don’t be agitated. No matter what happens.
-Compared to the trials of the academy, the future waiting for you is nothing. Once you step out of here, don’t you feel like you can do anything?
-Become stronger. Strength grants you not just a healthy body, but absolute confidence as well.
The professors had given such advice during lectures from time to time.
Those words brought her a sense of calm now.
‘I’ve already made noise.’
Just as she was about to relocate the secret escort by pulling on his shoulder, another bomb blast echoed from the direction they came from.
Had they brought in explosives from some mine, as more explosions seemed to emerge incessantly?
The sound of glass shards crunching beneath her feet filled the ravaged room.
‘Now.’
Her escort unleashed powerful telekinetic magic against the sound coming from the window.
As the glass barely crossed the threshold, the body of one watcher stepped on the shards and met the wall, a horrific sound marking bones bending in impossible directions.
‘It’s too late.’
Jezel’s instincts soon became reality.
In the smoke, as they tried to beat back a flying blade, a bomb rolled by her feet, leading her secret escort to heighten his telekinetic magic, only to hear the sound of an incorporeal wall breaking amidst a torrent of blood as he collapsed.
Next, it would be her.
And then it might be Arcadia and Oknodie, who might still be alive somewhere in that haze.
Jezel regretted it.
What if there had been even a little more manpower to fight alongside her?
The murders committed by the Pierrot Masked Group to protect Oknodie and to prevent Arcadia’s heart from wavering—were they ultimately driving them to death?
Boom!
Beyond the surging anxiety, a thunderous roar swallowed all disturbance.
The wall of the building burst open.
Someone stepped out from the smoke, spinning an umbrella they had picked up from somewhere with one hand.
“Ugh, I really hate rainy events. Got dirt all over me and almost ruined my clothes.”
Droplets of rain fell.
The groans of the injured.
Glares filled with murderous intent aimed back.
The umbrella subtly lifted, receiving it all.
Oknodie’s red eyes, resembling an adorable puppy, twisted beyond mere anger, revealing immense rage.
“I can’t finish until I kill them all.”
With dark mana nesting in her crimson gleam, it slowly turned to a blood-red glow.
