Chapter 79: Mask (2) (1/2)

Allen pretended to go home, but she returned to the assistant professor’s office, a peaceful and cozy space on the 77th floor.

There were three bookshelves to its right and a table big enough to fit a typewriter, a pencil, and a thick course book at the end.

Deculein had already left, leaving her alone with the starlights from the sky.

As she habitually swept and wiped her dark office, Allen had an unusual feeling.

It was strange.

Was it because she had stayed by his side for so long already?

No, she noticed it relatively recently. Exhausted by Deculein’s tyranny and paranoid perfectionism, everyone left him. Allen was the only one left.

She wasn’t expecting to notice anything in the first place.

So it was even weirder.

While she was with him, she studied magic, read books, prepared classes, and taught students…

She lived like an ordinary assistant, almost as if she wanted to have this life since forever.

Closing her eyes, she recalled his words.

‘You got my faith.’

His voice seemed to comfort her for all her hard work.

Decluein said that, but he didn’t know her truth. He didn’t know she was far from someone he could trust.

‘Allen’ wasn’t even her real name.

‘Stay by my side.’

Deculein’s last request. She thought of herself answering him.

‘Yes! Of course!’ She said.

… Allen slowly opened her eyes, muttering, looking at the distant sky.

“It’s been a long time since I saw someone as mysterious as you.”

She thought it was right for him to die at first. She just considered him as a noble with a mental illness, someone unskilled that she could easily break if she moved her fingertip.

But he changed, seemingly out of the blue, and showed his real side. He was always externally cold, but the warmth Allen felt from him for the first time was more brilliant than any flames she had seen. Finding it interesting, she unknowingly saved him from death.

The Bercht train terrorism and Veron attack.

Allen watched all of it and broke Veron’s wrist herself.

“But… I don’t think I can keep your trust.”

Slowly, cracks slithered through the darkness of the night.

The light of dawn had revealed itself. The sun was rising.

“… I have been on this mission for too long.”

There weren’t many sunrises left that she could see as ‘Allen.’ Before long, she would leave the world she was immersed herself in every day.

She shouldn’t feel sorry.

She shouldn’t even have such emotion.

“I have become familiar with Allen as well.”

Allen rested her forehead on the window, feeling the cold air that penetrated the room as she scrunched her nose.

* * * **

A sunny midsummer weekend.

Julie enjoyed an uncommon laze. The subject of her mission was safe, her work as a Freyhem Knight was relatively easy today, and she had already finished her morning training.

“Whoa…”

She played with the attendants in the lounge of the mansion.

The room was full of all kinds of advanced items and a variety of board games, but what attracted her interest the most was the object known as a “radio.”

“Isn’t this a crystal ball? How does it have sounds?”

“Oh~ the radio? We found it amazing when we first saw it too. I think there’s a mana stone collector plate inside. I don’t know the details, but basically, it has thirteen channels, and depending on which frequency you set it to, you’ll be able to hear what’s broadcasting in each of them.”

Mana stone collector plates. Frequency. Channel. Broadcast.

It was the first time she heard all of those words.

“That’s amazing. Can I listen to the horseback battle’s relay with this?”

Its price was over 5,000 Elnes, and it only had about a year of life, but it was like an exclusive property of the bourgeois. Still, these days, imperial media companies were beginning to open their own “channels.”

“Yes. You can listen to it without having to buy a ticket. You can’t watch it, though.”

The puppy, raised by the empire’s citizens together, on Julie’s lap looked at it in admiration as well.

Knock, knock—

The door opened, revealing Deculein’s direct secretary, Ren, who just returned from a business trip.

“Knight Julie. You have a schedule now.”

“Oh, okay.”

Julie quickly refined her outfit and prepared for her mission. Her armor was her casual wear, so she didn’t need to change into something else.

******

The sun was already at its peak when I arrived in Hadekain. The first on today’s schedule was the cutting ceremony of the underground passage.

“How did you think of a train passage that runs underground? Hahaha!”

“I can’t help but always admire Professor Deculein’s discernment!”

Many people had already gathered at the entrance to the underground passage, all of them renowned in the business world.

I welcomed them with Yeriel.

“The underground passage was Deculein’s idea, but it was my idea to build a shopping district.” Yeriel smiled calmly, her hands on her chest.

The chatter stopped. Everyone glanced at me and held their breaths.

“That’s right,” I answered with a smile of my own.

“I see! As expected from Professor Deculein’s sister.”

“Right, that brightness comes from the genes of the family!”

“That’s right!”

This event was by no means simply social in nature. It was also political, which was made evident by their suspicions about my relationship with Yeriel.

“Now, then. Let’s start the cutting cerimony~”

Yeriel hesitantly held a pair of scissors.

We all watched her cut the tape at the entrance of the passageway.

Clap-clap-clap-clap—

Its opening was welcomed with cheers and applause.

They requested for me to go through the passage together with them, but I shook my head.

The rest was up to her.

“I’m quite busy today, unfortunately. Yeriel will provide you with more information regarding this business. It’s under her jurisdiction anyway. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Oh, really? That’s a shame.”

“Have fun in Hadekain.”

They looked a bit sad since they looked forward to me staying, but they still rode along the tracks with Yeriel.

“Let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

As Julie and I made our way to the parking lot, Julie noticed someone following us and immediately blocked her.

“Stop. Reveal your identity before you come any closer.”

Her tone was heavy, but the mysterious woman remained undaunted as she answered.

“I’m an investor.”

She was wearing a suit and a beret. Confirming who she was, I dismissed Julie’s worries.

“It’s okay. You can stay inside.”

“… What?”

“I have to talk to her privately, so leave.”

“Oh, alright.”

Julie hesitantly got in the car, but she looked at us from the window.

“Your head seems to be okay,” Arlos said.

“Al. Did you invest in this project?”

“Al..? Oh. You meant me. Yes. It seemed like a good place to invest in.”

Arlos shrugged, then began to provide me with information.

“Zukaken and the Altar still haven’t given up on you. They probably have many plans in mind. Be careful.”

“… Hmm. And Gerek?”

Gerek was quite important. Insane Named characters were given special treatment in the game. Since they were difficult to deal with, their combat power could be used as a strategic weapon by making it exponentially explode all at once.

“Gerek will be off the grid for a while. Anyway, the Altar is preparing for an attack. That’s why I came here.”

I frowned. Arlos glanced sideways, covering more of her face with her beret.

“An attack?”

“I don’t know the details. They’re trying to move on their own now, so I don’t have much intel. However, based on their personalities alone, they’ll cause something huge.”

“And the reason being?”

“They’re not your run-of-the-mill crazy individuals. No one can understand their insanity-driven minds. Just remember to be alert when you’re somewhere crowded.”

A system message popped in front of me.

[Sudden Event: Storm]

“You could’ve said that through a crystal ball.”

“… This is safer.”

After finishing what she had to say, Arlos immediately left.

I got into the car after watching her disappear like a shadow.

“Let’s go to the tower.”

The second thing on my to-do list was a project inspection.

“Yes.”

As Ren stepped on the accelerator, I felt a burning gaze coming from the seat next to me. Glancing sideways, I found Julie staring at me with a rather sullen face.

“Who was she?” When our eyes met, she immediately raised a question she seemingly had been dying to ask.

“You don’t need to know.”

“…”

Julie pouted and sat upright.

She answered, “I won’t ask because you said I don’t need to know,” but her sharp gaze continued to glare ahead.

*****

Louina worked on her magic project in the lab.

With it fully funded, the students who had been with her in her past workplace were sent to her. The Kingdom University Tower was reluctant about this project due to financial problems, but the Planning and Financial Coordination Office Head’s [Authorized] stamp exerted tremendous power.

After she submitted her plan, everything that she had requested was prepared within a week.

Naturally, because of that, gossip circulated about her these days. She heard rumors along the lines of ‘Louina became Deculein’s servant,’ and ‘No, she’s gone beyond that. She became a loyal dog,’ but she didn’t bother denying any of them. Her feelings toward Deculein had already eased to some extent anyway.

“Now, everyone, there’s no need to desperately save mana stones! We’re not in the Kingdom anymore! Use them to your heart’s content—”

As she encouraged them, the door to the lab opened, the identity of the person standing beyond it startled her.

“Professor Deculein? What happened?”

“Emergency inspection. It’s part of my job as the Executive Director.”

Deculein looked at the table and the 16 wizards, who bowed to him, in the lab. Louina stood next to him, crossing her arms.

“There’s nothing to worry about. I’ve been preparing this idea for a long time now. We just couldn’t execute it because we didn’t have the funds, but now that we do, it will definitely pay off.”

“Are you confident?”

“Of course. However, the problem is this project’s expenses. We asked for ten million Elnes as our initial budget, but it can increase nearly 20 times that amount.” She replied, deliberately inflating the numbers.

2 billion. Deculein didn’t even blink.

“Okay.”

He had no doubts about it. After checking their documents, he left. He displayed, as always, impeccable behavior.

“…”

His perfectly fine appearance, for some reason, left Louina some mixed feelings.

Sighing softly, she followed Deculein.

“Um..”

After she called his attention, he stopped and looked at her.

“Here.”

She held out a candy-shaped container to him, which made his eyebrows furrow, seemingly finding her sudden gift absurd.