NOVPUB
Chapter 226: Blueberry Rush (4)
Rosemary took a cigarette in her mouth and took out her violin.
“What are you going to do?”
“Something bad.”
“Something bad?”
“I’m going to manipulate the corpse.”
She decided that whenever she did something, she would tell the Hasfeldt sisters all about it. Otherwise, she could lose their trust if she just went ahead with things on her own. This was the time when every word and action mattered.
“Listen carefully, Klais Hasfeldt. Your sister Klara Hasfeldt died here today.”
Rosemary explained in detail why it had to be this way.
“Simply put, we have to fool Summer Heaven.”
“But Blueberry, you can’t just tamper with the body of someone who passed.”
“Does that matter right now?”
Rosemary knew that people of the Empire considered funerals sacred. Well, the majority of humankind would, she supposed. Even the kingdom where she lived would take care to wrap the body in hemp cloth whenever someone died and bury them.
“This is the time to see reality. We can’t bring back the dead, but we need to live, no?”
“You’re the ones who killed them, so what are....”
“Was it me? Gilach was the one who did it.”
The mana also happened to be circulating within her now, so Rosemary pulled out her staff, sneering.
[Legendary Innate Magic ─ Requiem]
[The Third Movement : Variation]
A chilling tune began filling the room.
Badump, badump. Klais’ heart beat rapidly, feeling breathless just from listening.
Twitch.
The corpse twisted bizarrely. The structure changed, the shape transformed. The hair was a dull vanilla color, and dead black eyes turned into red.
“Oh my god.”
Klara covered her mouth. Someone looking exactly like her was dead before her eyes.
“...I can’t look.”
Klais whipped her head away, teeth gritted.
She knew that her sister was alive, but she just couldn’t stay calm seeing a corpse that looked exactly like Klara.
Rosemary put residues of a dead Elemental into the fake Klara corpse. The remnants of two Lesser Elementals who controlled Fire Magic. It wasn’t something so impressive.
“This should do.”
This should be enough to fool the eyes. Rosemary put down the violin like she was satisfied and perched on the bed. Her gaze shifted a little towards the ground.
A magic circle was drawn on it–a teleportation circle that Rosemary had built over the past few weeks on Aether’s orders.
“Klara Hasfeldt, you’ll take this and go back to the Empire. I’ll give you a note so go find all the people listed here. Once you find all of them, go to Iliad.”
“And then?”
“Tell Akasha. I already talked to her so she’ll help for sure.”
“What about you?”
“The moment I get a report from Akasha, I’ll go to Iliad and join you.”
That was where Act two was going to begin. They had to use every card in their deck and convince Aether.
“Good. Go now and.......”
Rosemary couldn’t go any further.
[Oho, so that’s what you’re going to do.]
With a chilling voice, the door with the protection spell opened up easily.
Klais, Klara, and even Rosemary...
...froze at the sight of the hook-arm elf who appeared in front of them.
“Ah....”
Klara was the most shocked. She could feel phantom pain every time she saw those gleaming blades. It felt like her limbs were aching, eyes stiffening, her insides twisting up.
Gilach, the Summer Heaven.
The man who had horrendously tortured her was grinding his teeth.
“It has been a while, Ms. Toy. Have you been doing well?”
“G-go away.......”
Gilach kept coming without stopping. Slowly, but surely. Before long, his shadow was coming upon them.
“I thought so, but I am quite surprised. To think that Winter had been hiding you. And that thing next to you–is it supposed to be a modified corpse? What a joke. Did you think that I would be fooled if you sprinkled some residue of Lesser Elementals?”
Unbelievable.
Gilach had been waiting for Aether to leave the Demon Castle. He hadn’t slept a wink since the day he had sensed the presence of Elementals, waiting in eager anticipation for the day he would get to torture Klara again.
And today was the moment it would come to fruition.
“Hmm?”
With a stick of mana grass in her mouth, Rosemary stepped in front of Gilach.
“Aether told me to protect these two humans no matter what. I will never hand them over to you.”
“Hah!”
Gilach snorted.
“She steals someone else’s toy and, what, says to protect it? A mere street urchin? To this weak bitch? Even bullshit has its limits!”
The corners of Gilach’s lips curled up. On the other hand, his eyes were cold and flat.
“You will be disposed of. How dare you rebel against your superior and lie to him? I will not stand for such shame.”
It was the worst.
There were no chances of winning in this kind of one-on-one battle, especially if the opponent was ‘Summer Heaven’ of the Four Heavens.
Be aware of the difference between you and your opponent; thousands and millions of comrades died because they were ignorant.
She was well aware because she had gotten her butt kicked against Autumn Heaven. She mustn’t go up against Gilach.
But she couldn’t hand over Klara Hasfeldt, either. No, even if she did, she would die.
Gilach was now right in front of them, ready to tear her apart along with the Hasfeldt sisters.
Indeed, this was what the Demon Army was supposed to be. An organization abounding with command and obedience, survival of the fittest, scheming and betrayal.
There was no way for her to win, and nothing in her deck to turn the tide.
Then.
Time to go with Plan B.
“Hooh, you’re going to fight me? How unfortunate, I would have killed you peacefully if you hadn’t resisted.”
This time, it was Rosemary’s turn to snort.
“Who said I was going to fight?”
Then the next moment–
“Urgh...!”
“Ahh!”
Rosemary yanked the leash of the Hasfeldt sisters, and the feet of all three entered the circle.
Flash!
The area beneath their feet began glowing a subtle sky blue.
“What......!”
Gilach immediately swung his hook. Fwoooosh! But there was no impact. Only the air was sliced.
When he blinked, there was no one in the room besides himself. He had been too late.
“A-and what magic is this.”
It had only been two hundred years since the concept of scrollology and multi-layered magic circles emerged. There was no way that Gilach, who had been sealed a thousand years ago, would know the details of its principle or how to make it work.
“Well, well, you got me. Huhuhu.......”
Without even doing anything, he lost his prey right before his eyes.
It was disappointing. And at the same time, rage burst from his throat.
For some time, Gilach wreaked havoc right there in the lab screaming all sorts of profanities.
The Philiut Empire was in the process of cleaning up after the events in the capital and restoring their economy, thanks to the efforts of Duke Hasfeldt and the Alion Philiut, the new Emperor.
The half-ruined Tilette Academy was being rebuilt as well, under the responsibility of Marquis Meriga Heerlein who was the newly-assigned Minister of Land and Infrastructure.
Yet there was still a shortage of people. She might be working as a Minister, but she couldn’t neglect teaching the students.
As such, she had been suffering from a lack of sleep for over a month. Putting down the folder, Heerlein slumped in her seat, letting out sigh and after sigh.
“This is tough.”
“Because you’re doing two things at once.”
A fellow professor asked after her, to which Heerlein waved her hand.
“Don’t even get me started. I didn’t realize that working two jobs would be this hard.”
“Is teaching going well?”
Heerlein nodded quietly.
“It’s good as there are a lot of dependable students in our class; they listen so well.”
“That elf in particular, you mean? The one who dropped out then came back.......”
“Yes, he trains and studies every moment he gets. The chaotic atmosphere of the class settled thanks to him.”
“That student also tagged along the other day on a fourth year’s practical session and took down a Gigantopia, right?”
Heerelin nodded again, and her colleague was astounded.
Understandably, because it was no secret at Tilette Academy that the elf student had become strong enough to defeat a Calamity.
“Well, I’ll be going to class.”
“I also need to get going.......”
The two professors stood at the same time.
Heerlein had free time for the next three, four hours. It was now time to function as the Minister rather than teacher.
Heerlein entered the palace. Today she would be fixing the broken west wall.
This used to be where Duke Blanton once stayed. They cleared most of the danger, but she couldn’t let her guard down yet. Heerlein reassigned the people and looked around the destroyed rooms.
“This is the magic circle we discovered a while ago.”
Heerlein was standing with Marquis Celesturne and looking around Lady Blanton’s room.
“Is it a teleportation circle?”
“That’s what it looks like from the configuration.”
“Why did you leave it instead of destroying it?”
“It isn’t easy to dismantle. There are also circuits that will blow up the place if you touch them wrong.”
Heerlein clicked her tongue, smiling bitterly. Lady Rosemary, a hindrance to the Empire until the end.
“It would be nice if we could capture Lady Blanton.”
“She disappeared that day. If only we had a clue as to where she went.”
“Just she wait. I’m going to just.......”
Although Heerlein was talking jokingly, she did have a lot of things against her.
Making a fool of the Empire, killing many of the reformed party including the chairman, destroying Tilette Academy, teaching despair to undergraduates who were just starting to pursue their dreams, etc.
She’d never forgive her.
“Anyway, just leave this alone. It isn’t a normal construction circle, so they’re bound to come and get it.”
“Or they could send troops over here.”
Either one was possible. Why, don’t they say that the criminal comes back to the scene of the crime?
And it was true.
Flash!
“Ah...?”
The magic circle turned blue, then three people just appeared on top of it.
Lady Rosemary, who she had been trying so hard to find, and two women with red eyes and golden hair were sitting confused on top of the magic circle.
There was no warning, they had just appeared out of nowhere in the blink of an eye.
“.......”
“.......”
Heerlein and Celesturne blinked at the three people.
“M-minister, pull yourself together!”
“That’s a Beast! A Beast has appeared!”
Hearing her subordinates, she quickly snapped to her senses. Heerlein took up her staff and got into a combat stance.
However.
“Meri?”
“...Klais?”
There was someone she knew amongst them for some reason.
Wearing a slave collar, at that.
