NOVPUBWhen Aiwass awoke again, he felt an unprecedented weakness.
——It was not an illusion.
Aiwass quickly determined that this condition stemmed from severe anemia. However, he felt no wounds or pain on his body, but rather a light, intoxicating sense of exhilaration.
It was akin to the joy and comfort one feels while embracing a lover, breathing in the fragrance of their hair.
He calmed his mind slightly and opened his eyes, ready to assess his situation.
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He... or rather she, noticed that she was currently in a neat but cramped room.
Beneath her lay a tidy bedsheet and a soft, thick quilt. There were no decorations or entertainment in the wooden room. Apart from a single bed, there was only a small desk.
On the desk sat a green plant, three or four books secured with bookends, and a glass of water.
But then the first bad thing happened.
She noticed that there were no extra clothes in the room.
Her feet were bare, and she wore only a thin white nightgown... After leaving the quilt, she felt a distinct, shivering chill.
And as she turned to get out of bed, Aiwass realized that there was a heavy metal collar around her neck.
Since there was no mirror in the room, she couldn’t confirm her appearance or the specific look of the collar. She pulled a strand of her hair that hung behind her to the front, confirming it was black.
Soon, the host’s ethereal and pleasant voice, as if telling a bedtime story, gently reached her ears:
"You wake from the twilight’s afterglow, feeling even weaker than the day before.
"You just had a dream, dreaming of your beautiful past as the daughter of a viscount.
"Amidst the joint forces of the Alchemy Association and the Art Society, the empire’s Demon Scholars began to face an unprecedented persecution. The frequency of homicides was high, almost beyond management. The conflict between the Transcendents had become thoroughly public, with numerous aristocrats forcibly stripped of their lands and titles, their wealth and daughters plundered by the Transcendents.
"You were sold by your father to the Son of the Moon to secure protection for your family. And now you are a Blood Slave reared by Crescent Moon Manor, numbered 14."
"Day after day of ’nourishment,’ your body grows weaker. If you were a sustenance for only one master, there might be a chance to survive. But if you continue working in the manor, you will soon die here.
"Thus, only two paths lay before you—escape from Crescent Moon Manor or be bought by a master who loves you, at an exorbitant price. The latter is almost impossible.
"But on your own, you can accomplish nothing. So you nine gather together, intending to collectively escape from here.
"——However, considering the lack of shoes, food, survival tools, the probability of escaping over the mountains and through dense forests to safety is slim. Moreover, even if you reach the empire’s territory, you could still be killed or captured by others.
"Thus, among the nine of you, there surfaced at least one betrayer with ulterior motives—an Informer.
"If someone were to inform a Son of the Moon about this jailbreak and earn their trust, the Son of the Moon might report it to the manor. If all the escapees are successfully caught, the manor will send one or two of you as a gift to them—a different method of escaping Crescent Moon Manor.
"——And you are one of the Informers."
[Necessary Task——]
[Be in a safe location outside Crescent Moon Manor and with no pursuers before The Sun rises again (Points: None)]
[Extra Tasks——]
[Find Companions: First, locate all your companions (Points: 500)]
[Stay Concealed: Keep your true identity hidden from everyone until the end (Points: 500)]
[Informant’s Useless Slaughter: Kill the other companions (Points: 200 per person)]
[Informant’s False Disguise: Successfully keep the identity of an informant hidden from companions (Points: 500)]
[Successful Plan: Leave Crescent Moon Manor through a secret passage (Points: 1000)]
[Betrayal’s Instinct: Sabotage the jailbreak plan (Points: 1000)]
[Alluring Aura: Get successfully adopted (Points: 1000)]
[Innate Regicide Talent: Assassinate your master (Points: 2000)]
With the task list popping up, Aiwass glanced over it briefly.
The killing intent was slightly less than the last New Moon Ritual, but the malice had not dissipated because of it.
It was just that murder had become deception and betrayal...
However...
Aiwass looked carefully at the task again, confirming the requirements over and over.
—Neither "escape" nor "informing" seemed to explicitly appear on the task list.
Even the "Innate Betrayal Talent" task for the Informer merely required sabotaging the escape plan. But it didn’t force one to inform.
In other words, their actions were not bound by compulsion. Escape and informing were merely "suggested tasks."
...This also meant that even Informers could choose not to inform at all since their victory condition had nothing to do with their identity.
Similarly, others could choose to inform... which would also interfere with the tasks of those trying to find the Informer.
As a symmetric task to "Faking the Informer’s Identity," there definitely was a task to "Kill the Informer" on the other side. Aiwass, as an Informer, could also incite others to inform... If he got caught and killed, that would allow him to hide his true identity.
However...
In this task, the genders of all participants were reversed.
And there was a special victory condition: one must not let anyone discover their true identity—not even their partners. This meant that those teaming up, including himself and Lily, could not confirm each other’s identities.
—But not being able to confirm identities didn’t mean they couldn’t figure it out on their own. 𝚗𝚘v𝚙𝚞b.𝚌𝚘m
In other words, they needed a method of acknowledgment that was "known but unsaid."
Did Aiwass and Lily have such a method?
Indeed, they did.
When they entered, their appearances were reversed, but it seemed apart from that young lady from Path of Love, no one else had noticed.
In other words, others would think Aleister was a miss, so he should now be male; similarly, if they thought Grey was a gentleman, he would now be a lady.
Then Aiwass could completely swap identities with Lily—
He now was "Grey."
As long as he could spot another man who could be "Alai" from the crowd, that man would be Lily. This way, they did not need to verify identities to be sure the other was their teammate.
...He hoped she would catch on.
Aiwass thought to himself.
She walked to the window and struggled to push it open—just this simple action left her gasping for breath.
The outside window was suffused with the golden red glow of the sunset. The view outside was an expanse of lush green hills, refreshing and uplifting to the soul.
Yet it caused a sinking feeling in her heart.
Although she knew she was in the mountains... weren’t they a bit too deep?
She stretched out her hand, looking at her fingers in the light.
But just doing so made the tips of her fingers tremble uncontrollably due to weakness from anemia.
Judging by the slenderness of her fingers, she seemed quite young, probably only about fifteen or sixteen. Her skin was fair, without calluses on her hands, nor wounds on her arms.
Her fingernails were nearly bloodless, turning a shade of pale blue, and had lost their luster. There was no color visible in the palms, the fingertips visibly shriveled, and her palms were lined with wrinkles.
...With such a frail body, how could she possibly escape?
Just then, her room door suddenly opened.
It was a man in black, dressed as a server and wearing a rabbit mask.
With his hands behind his back, he spoke calmly:
"It’s dinner time, number 14. The guests have been waiting for a long time, come with me."
"...Yes."
The slender girl instantly entered her role, nodding lightly with a shiver.
