Chapter 19 "Uncomfortable"

　I heard multiple footsteps coming from a short distance away.

　They must have noticed the dead body downstairs and gathered a number of people to come up.

　From the sound, I guessed they were on their way up the stairs.

It was a good thing I had taken precautions.

　Activation. Explosion.

　The whole house shakes with shock.

Lilynette's smile disappears and she turns her gaze toward the staircase.

"Was it you?"

"What do you think?"

She is kicked at my cheek.

　Of course it was me.

I blew up the stairs with Explosion III, which tweaked the expression point and directivity that I was hit with yesterday.

　It's not hard to set that up if you know the distance.

After all, I have more than one brain.

No way to reproduce it.

　For now, reinforcements won't be coming for a while.

　"You have any other friends?"

Her tone of voice is losing its composure.

　"Choudhury. Go check it out. It's just me and Sudri here."

　Choudhury takes one look at me and heads for the stairs.

　The other one's name is Sudri? I guess it's an alias.

　I won't let him go, though. Deploy Explosion II in the hallway.

　Everyone in range, including me. It's directed, so it's going to blow everyone up.

　Everyone except me is startled for a moment, but Lilynette puts her hand on the magic circle.

　The magic circle shatters.

　Oh...what did she do?

　Maybe a jamming magic tool?

　I expected it to be a dud, but it's not fun that it was dealt with so easily.

　I've got an opening, no problem.

　I stand up. I let the joints bend as they are, increasing the range of motion.

　"What!?"

Sudri let out a surprised voice.

　Of course he is.

Not only did I move, but I also stood up, ignoring the restraints.

Oh, by the way, the wound on my cheek is not intentionally healed.

　I hit him with my unrestrained hand.

　I punched him in the jaw from below quite hard.

I can feel the bone cracking in my hand.

　Sudri collapsed, his eyes white as blood spurted out.

　"Soudri!"

Choudhury shouted in surprise.

　In contrast, Lilynette was calm.

　Two knives fly.

I kicked it with my foot, grabbed the sword I had dropped when she held me down, and knocked it off.

The next thing I know, she's in my reach.

　That was fast. I tried to intercept with the sword, but Lilynette turned her body to the side and avoided.

　She then kicked me in the back.

　It pierced my side of the head.

　I don't mean that figuratively, but it did. This woman has a blade in her shoe.

The blade retracts and she lowers her foot.

　My body leans back and my jaw pops up.

　I feel the steel in my mouth.

　It's as if a knife has been inserted under my chin.　

　Then I feel air escaping from my neck.

　It seems that my neck has been cut in a single slice.

　Blood gushes out.

　It's a waste, but it's not good if you don't let it out, right?

　It didn't go all the way to the bone, did it?

　Shock to the back.

　A sword. It pierces my heart through my back and exits through my chest.

　It's a good sword to pierce through the mail.

I don't fall down on the spot... instead, I grab onto Choudhury behind me.

"Why did you...?"

I grabbed Choudhury by the chest and headbutted him.

Choudhury was hit in the face and fell down with his face caved in, spurting blood.

　I stomped on his neck and crushed his bones to finish him off.

"Hey, hey, hey. What kind of joke is this?　You... how are you still alive?"

　"I'm just a little tougher than people, that's all."

　"You're not human. What are you, some kind of demon?"

I ignore her and pull out the knife in my jaw and the sword in my chest.

　Lilynette's eyes narrow.

　The atmosphere has changed. There's still something there.

　Lillinette pulls out a knife from somewhere and holds it up with both hands.

There's still something in there. How many knives do you have?

And...something is bothering me about her eyes...

　Eyes that are neither mocking nor angry....

　What is this?

　Is it a feeling of great discomfort... or is it disgust?

If it's coming from me now, it must be from my previous life....

　The knives are flying.

I stop questioning myself.

　I fling it with my sword. She lunges at me.

The same move again...

I reached out to grab her when she was close to me.

　Suddenly, something like a ball appeared in front of me.

　The ball exploded...or rather, it glowed.

My eyes are blinded.

　A string-like thing bites into my neck, trying to cut it off.

　It's no use.

Restoration from the end of the thread passed by.

　I try to grab it somehow, but I find myself running out of time.

　Lilynette is surprised to see the thread.

"I thought I cut off your head. That would have decapitated you..."

I turned my head to show her.

　I don't know what kind of magic trick this is, but it's interesting.

　Lilynette's uncomfortable stare intensified.

　"Next, this..."

　Lillinette snaps her fingers.

　What...oh, this.

　I can't breathe. Magic...it's made the air thinner around my face only.

Clever girl. Doesn't work on me, though.

　Is she really the daughter of a nobleman?

I've always wondered how this girl came to be an assassin...

No, before that, is this actually her?

Is she some kind of demon?

　Well...whatever. Let's just kill her and see what she remembers, shall we?

"Poison and suffocation nullified. Regenerates traumatic injuries. I love it... you're the best."

Her eyes started to water. She seemed to be in a trance.

　Then I remembered. No, I noticed...?

Her eyes are like that. It's the same eyes I used to have.

　The eyes of a cunning, greedy man who wants what he wants and wants what others want.

Looking at the world with a sneer. Wanting what they don't have.

But it's the eyes of a shit who makes excuses for not having the strength to just look up at the world.

　I even feel mildly nauseous when I realize it.

　Yeah, the feelings towards myself are especially strong. I feel bad.

But more than that, why is she looking at me like that?

"I don't know how to kill you at the moment, so I'll call it a day."

I'm not going to let her get away with it, are you kidding me? I stop thinking and rush into the room.

　Lilynette hits the ground with something that looks like a ball...or a flashbang...or something like that.

　The light pops off, but I've already seen it. I protect my face with my hand and let it pass.

　I can't see what's ahead, but I know what I have to do.

Cut off all means to escape. Most likely, she's going to escape through the corridor window, right?

　But unlike my expectations, Lilynette's behavior is the opposite of what I expected, and she's approaching me.

　Is she bluffing to escape?

　She jumped on me, ducking under my arm.

　She clung to my waist with her legs, and her face came at close range. It was close enough for me to kiss her.

"That caught you! Gotta have it!"

　What the...?

　Before I had time to think, Lilynette's eyes lit up and something entered me.

　Lilynette Kristina Eldo Akosarn was originally a shy and socially awkward girl, but she was kind-hearted and considerate of others.

　Her father, Hoffer, loved her deeply, and his wife, Nisa, loved her as well.

　Three years ago, a change came over her.

　It was a while after she turned 13.

　One of the butlers was the first to notice it.

　She began to laugh with a strange expression on her face. When he saw it, he told Nisa that he thought she was a different person. At the time, she didn't take it up with him, saying, "That's ridiculous."

　A few days later, he died.

He was on his way home from shopping when he was attacked by a street robber.

Since it was an incident right after she heard about it, Nisa was curious about it and decided to look into it.

　The more she looked into it, the stranger her daughter's behavior became.

　She was going out quietly at night with a guard, repeatedly going in and out of the office without Hoffer's knowledge, and so on.

　A few months later, Nisa died in a mysterious accident.

　Hoffer was devastated by his wife's death, but he had heard about his daughter from his wife, so he did not suspect...or perhaps he did not want to suspect.

　He was afraid of losing his wife and even his daughter.

He had doubts, but tried not to think about it.

But his daughter's behavior escalated.

　Hiring of people whose identities were unknown.

　Purchasing drugs and tools of unknown use.

　Involvement with a guild specializing in assassinations, the Hunters of Souls.

Before long, it was Hoffer's turn to do the deed, and he could no longer ignore the quandary.

　One day, Hoffer expressed his doubts to Lillinette.

　Then Lillinette changed and after hurting Hoffer, she told him not to interfere with her actions.

　Hoffer resisted, but the next day, the people involved in the security of the mansion were replaced, and most of them were replaced by members of the "hunters."

　Hoffer's freedom was taken away from him as he was under constant surveillance in the name of security.

How long did these days go on...before he realized it, Lilynette had turned 16 and grown up beautifully, but inside she had become distorted to no end.

...Or perhaps the distortion started from the beginning, and it only came to the surface gradually.

　Hoffer still didn't understand.

　What had happened to his daughter....

　Before that, was that really their daughter?

Hoffer still did not know...he really did not know.

　"...Gnu."

With a scowl on my aching body, I - Hoffer Mosber Rochette Acothern - pick myself up.

　...What...?

　I remember what happened just before I lost consciousness.

　As I recall...yes, that woman had failed to kill her target, and so she had made some ridiculous claim about framing an innocent man, making him a criminal, and putting a bounty on his head.

　I couldn't take it anymore.

　A lord is supposed to protect his people, not undermine them.

　My father was like that, and I have lived my whole life to be like that.

　I confronted her with a knife tucked in my desk, determined to take her with me, even if she killed me.

　Then a man with a black cloak, mask, and suspicious appearance entered the room....

　What happened to him...?

Wobbling, I walk out of the room.

There was a strange man and that woman lying on the ground at my feet.