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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: An Unscheduled Debut
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I could feel my entire body stiffen with tension. My mouth went dry, and my heart began to race.
‘Did he recognize me?’
The thought flashed through my mind.
I was in a staff uniform and wearing a mask, but was it really enough of a disguise?
“You should have waited a little deeper inside. Then I would have passed by without even knowing you were here…”
His tone was one of genuine regret, as if he couldn’t help but feel sorry for me. Yet, he continued to approach, dagger in hand.
‘If I turn my back, he’ll chase me.’
It was obvious that even if I ran, I’d still be in the palm of his hand. It would only provoke him.
‘Should I try to say something? No, he doesn’t seem like the type to listen. Then what if I pretend I saw nothing? That won’t work either.’
Overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness, I squeezed my eyes shut. All my usual methods were useless against this man.
He strode forward and stood before me. From this close, I could see about half of his face beneath the robe.
Amidst hair the color of deep navy, almost black, his indigo eyes shone like the night sky, as if a single drop of blue paint had fallen into them.
Looking at him, I felt the illusion of standing under a vast, open summer night sky.
The slight upward curl of his lips hinted at his temperament, while his eyes observed me with cold calculation.
“……”
“……”
We held each other’s gaze like that for a while. Silently, motionlessly. Sweat slicked the palms of my tightly clenched fists.
As if sizing me up, he slowly traced my cheek with a hand clad in a black glove.
“!”
I flinched for a moment but didn’t pull away noticeably.
His fingertips lingered, tracing the contours of my face before finally reaching my mask.
“Oh my…”
My vision suddenly brightened. The man who had removed my mask clicked his tongue, a slight frown on his face as if to say he knew it.
Then he muttered, as if troubled.
“I hadn’t heard the Duke’s Daughter was working here…”
It wasn’t surprising that he knew who I was. This was the man who had hurled a chilling warning at me in the middle of the street.
What was truly surprising was that he didn’t immediately swing his dagger, even after realizing my identity.
He had already tried to kill us once and had been halfway successful.
If this man’s goal was to kill all the descendants of the prophets and free the Isle of Thanatos, I should have been dead ten minutes ago.
“Hmm, how about we pretend we don’t know each other? I’ll act like I didn’t see you, so you do the same for me. Okay?”
“…You’re not killing me.”
“Not yet. There are a few things I need to confirm.”
He said the chilling words with a gentle smile. Then he tossed the dagger behind him.
*Clatter…*
The piece of metal made a loud noise as it rolled across the floor. He paid the sound no mind and, with his now-free hand, gathered a handful of my hair.
“Hmm~.”
He closed his eyes and savored it as if inhaling a fragrance, then smiled widely and spoke again.
“It’s strange. You seem a bit different from other humans.”
“……”
“How should I put it? It’s like meeting one of my own kind? Ah, of course, that couldn’t possibly be true for a noble Duke’s Daughter like yourself.”
Surprisingly, he was right.
His animalistic intuition seemed to have led him to guess half of my true nature. Though logically, he seemed to think, ‘There’s no way.’
“That’s why I’m a little hesitant to kill you right away.”
“……”
“Ah, you were just thinking it, weren’t you? How can I say that after killing so many people?”
He wiped a dried streak of blood from his cheek with his sleeve, grinning brightly.
“Well, you have them among humans too, don’t you? The type who don’t bat an eye at killing animals. We’re similar. Of course, the human-lovers would be horrified to see me like this…”
He trailed off, looking down at me intently.
“You might make a decent pet human, my lady.”
His tone suggested he considered humans a completely different species. A shiver ran down my spine.
At that moment, the door flew open.
*BANG!*
“Hands up and surrender! You’re surrounded!” the guard at the front shouted.
“Oops. I played around too much.”
The man placed the mask back on my face. ‘We can’t have you getting caught, can we? Right?’ he whispered, his voice devoid of any tension.
“Surrender peacefully!”
Men with drawn swords surrounded us completely.
*Shing!*
As their swords were aimed at us in unison, it became difficult to move even an inch.
*Tap.* The man playfully tapped the tip of a sword.
“Hmm. The security here seems rather… lacking.”
“Do you not fear death?!”
“Hm? Death? …Puhaha! Who do you think you’re talking to?”
The man burst out laughing as if he genuinely found it hilarious. The uproarious laughter, so out of place in this situation, felt bizarre.
“You people really don’t know anything about us, do you?”
The man muttered, wiping away a tear of laughter that had formed at the corner of his eye.
“Hah. That was fun. I might get scolded if I’m any later, so I should get going.”
“It seems you still haven’t grasped the situation…!”
*Snap!*
The crisp sound of a finger snap echoed.
“…Huh?”
Immediately after, a tear trickled from the eye of the guard standing at the front. No, it was crimson blood. The fresh blood streamed across his cheek and dripped from his chin.
“Cough!”
“Argh!”
Before long, he started coughing up blood, and the soldiers behind him began to show similar symptoms.
Blood poured from every orifice of their bodies. Agonized groans echoed from all around.
As they collapsed to the floor one by one, the man stepped over them with a light gait.
Stopping in front of the storage unit, he picked up the access card lying at his feet and calmly entered.
“Don’t feel too bad about it. It’s just going back to its rightful owner. Isn’t that right?”
He turned back with a broad smile, as if seeking my agreement.
Even though I knew things would get complicated if that fell into their hands, I couldn’t bring myself to move.
‘If I use warlock abilities, what if they find out I’m a warlock? Then they’ll surely realize the secret behind my siblings’ revival.’
The risk was too great to act carelessly.
*Crack!*
As the man touched it, a crack spread across the transparent glass case. When he focused a little more power, that force reached the case within.
*Crack!*
Even the third glass case was shattering into pieces.
There was very little time left.
I had to find a way before the fifth case broke.
*Thud.*
My foot then touched something hanging from the pocket of a fallen man. It was a magical device for communicating with people far away.
“……”
The decision was made in an instant.
“Before you leave, could you tell me one thing?”
“Hm? Oh, anything.”
“What’s your name?”
The man looked surprised by my question. Then, he smiled as if he found it amusing.
“Claude.”
Just as I thought.
It seemed this man was the leader of the warlocks. Was he the one Penelope had been waiting to hear from?
“I didn’t think you were interested in me. Why the sudden curiosity?”
“Isn’t it polite to at least know a name?”
I returned his wide smile.
“Since we’ll be sharing a stage.”
“…Huh?”
Before he could even voice his confusion, I moved a step faster. I shouted into the communication device.
“Item number 183 is ready! We will send it to the stage with top priority over all other items!”
“What are you doing…”
Before his question could end, I pressed the red button on the communication device. I had seen them use it over their shoulders earlier.
It seemed they used it to set the priority of items.
I deliberately faced Claude and twisted my lips into a smirk. His eyes widened in a way that showed he hadn’t expected this.
Not long after, a resonant ‘whirrr’ echoed from the storage area.
*Clunk!*
The entire floor began to move. The floor of the storage area and its surroundings were rising into the air.
It was a system I had noticed earlier. This auction house seemed to prefer a very simple method for its highlight items instead of a complicated transport process.
*Flash.* A spotlight hit us head-on, and my vision went white. Only after raising a hand to roughly shield my eyes could I finally see what was in front of me.
The audience, filling the seats before us, was waiting with their auction paddles in hand.
“Wh-wh-what?!”
The auctioneer shouted at the unexpected appearance of these individuals.
“What in the world has happened?! It is indeed item number 183… but it seems there was a slight problem with its storage!”
At the auctioneer’s helpful briefing, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves.
Claude, who had finally grasped the situation, let out a hollow laugh.
“You know all sorts of little tricks, don’t you, my lady?”
The corner of his mouth beneath the robe curved into a smile, but his voice was considerably heavy. He seemed quite pissed.
“Don’t feel too bad. It’s just going back to its rightful owner.”
I threw his own words right back at him. After all, we were planning to buy this grimoire with our own money, fair and square.
Claude looked as though he’d been thoroughly outplayed, then covered his face with one hand and burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! Hahahaha! Ah, this is driving me crazy…”
After a fit of laughter, as his breathing calmed, his indigo eyes glinted through the gaps between his fingers.
“…Let’s see who wins, shall we? Hmm?”
