episode_0130

“Who is this…?”

As Alice and I both entered the room and remained silent, Mia Crowfield asked in a somewhat anxious voice. To be more precise, it seemed as if she had no idea what the current situation was.

But I didn’t answer that. Neither did Alice.

I just walked forward slowly and looked down at the man’s face.

The man was just looking at the floor.

What should I do?

In fact, it was an ambiguous situation.

It’s true that this man beat me. He probably didn’t kill me. I lost consciousness, but I woke up right after.

Since Claire was able to escape alive in the original, it must have been a literal ‘fabrication’ that made me into such a mess. If you were going to sell me to a necrophiliac, it would have been better to take me, kill me, and hand me over fresh, rather than kill me on the spot and take me away.

Should I grab her by the hair and make her raise her head?

After thinking about it seriously, I decided not to go that far. If I did something like that while crouching like this, this man would see right under my skirt. And Alice Namia Crowfield, who was standing beside me… … No, these two aren’t wearing uniforms, so maybe it doesn’t matter.

her.

Was my resentment so shallow that I had such thoughts when I saw the person I had given up on finding right in front of me?

“… … .”

Well, one thing is certain.

That night, if it hadn’t been for me, another girl would have suffered the same thing. There were other orphanages besides the one we were in.

“About 10 years ago.”

After thinking carefully, I finally opened my mouth.

“There is an orphanage that burned down. Do you remember it?”

“… … .”

The man didn’t answer for a while.

Just as I was wondering if she had no intention of answering, the man answered in a rough voice.

“I remember.”

It was polite speech.

You may not know who we are or why we are doing this, but you cannot help but notice the imperial emblem and griffon clearly drawn on the armor of the knights who storm this building. It is a symbol that even the commoners of neighboring countries, let alone spies, would recognize.

It’s a sentence that you rarely see up close like this.

“Were you around there?”

“Yes.”

Do you know why I ask this? Maybe I just think that in this situation, it would be much more disadvantageous not to answer straight.

“At that time… …there must have been a woman next to you. Do you know where she went?”

At first glance, she looked like a noble lady, but upon closer inspection, she seemed to be dressed in an overly flashy manner. It was this man’s job to select and process the children, but the woman must have been nearby as she also had an important role.

“… … Last time I saw you, you were in the system.”

“… … .”

I kept my mouth shut and quietly looked at the back of the man’s head.

It was thick. It looked like the hair of someone who had never experienced hardship. Well, since he lived while playing that kind of role, it’s not like he ‘really’ didn’t have hardships. At least he earned money that wasn’t honest and lived while spending it proudly.

I slowly got up and looked around.

The moment I entered the room, my eyes were fixed on the man, so I noticed things around me that I hadn’t noticed before.

It’s an unforgettable sight.

The atmosphere has changed considerably since I was last here. Well, I guess so. In order to decorate it this luxuriously, they probably had to at least put up new wallpaper. Ten years have passed, and the wallpaper in that house back then… … would have been stained here and there by opium smoke and bodily fluids.

“Is this house yours?”

I walked slowly and circled the room as I asked. Everyone in the room was holding their breath. Mia Crowfield, of course, and even Alice, who had been acting so confident when she brought me here, and the knight who was holding the man down with his knee.

“… … Yes.”

“You must have worked hard.”

It is difficult to purchase even one room in a house like this with a normal wage. It is not simply a matter of expensive land or expensive house prices. It is because the wages paid to workers are ridiculously low.

Those were the good old days, wasn’t it the Belle Epoque?

An era where capitalism is at its peak. Anyone can earn money if they work, and live an honorable life with the money they earn honestly.

And even the person giving the money can control the amount as he wishes.

There is no law to protect tenants. To pay the rent, you have to work fourteen hours a day, and working late into the night makes you sleepy.

If you fall asleep, your hand will be cut off by the press. If your hand is cut off, your job will be cut off. Then, the worker will take the remaining money and go to an opium den, or drink alcohol and cut off reality from his life. He will smoke opium and drink alcohol with the money he gets by begging in the alleys, and when his stomach and liver cannot hold out, he will finally cut off even the life that was left. In the arms of the great fatherland, the Azerbaijani Empire.

On the roads of empire.

And this man must have worked very hard to cut that life apart. Using children who were too young to work—even by this world’s standards, they were considered too young—as his material.

“… … .”

The man couldn’t answer.

“You created a fantasy so that the workers who are tired of life can be comfortable.”

Through opium.

“… … .”

“If left alone, children who would have been freezing to death on the street without any value were given value and the opportunity to sign a contract with a suitable employer.”

A chance to sell your body.

Whether you want it or not.

For children too young to even think about that.

“… … .”

The man didn’t answer.

No, can’t you? Because you understand what I mean?

“Isn’t it a proud thing? Isn’t it people like you who brighten up the dark side of the great empire?”

Before I knew it, I had walked around the room and was standing in front of the man.

The man still only showed the back of his head.

The wallpaper in the room was by no means cheap. The wood used on the bookshelf and desk. And the magic stone light on the desk.

Curtains, mattresses, bookshelves filled with rawhide hardcovers, silk curtains, and expensive shirts hanging on hangers, as well as wristwatches and pocket watches neatly arranged on the desk.

None of them were cheap.

At first glance, the expensive things were mixed together in this small room, making it look simple and cozy, but when you take it apart and look at it one by one, you can see how extravagantly this person lived.

Now that I think about it, it was the same back then too.

The fur on the coat he was wearing. The cane he was holding.

Nothing looked cheap.

I could easily recall what he sold to make so much money.

“How did you live in this mansion?”

“… … .”

“Who introduced you to me?”

I heard Mia Crowfield take a deep breath, but I didn’t turn around.

My head was still pointed at the back of the man’s head.

“Have you ever been friends with anyone in this land?”

“Hwang—”

When I said that, Mia Crowfield took a step forward and shouted, but Alice seemed to have stopped her. The words that were coming out were cut off. It seemed that the reason that had flown away for a moment had come back as Alice grabbed his shoulder.

“… … .”

The man had no answer.

bang!

There was a loud noise. A small scream was heard from behind. For a moment, the knight who had been holding the man’s arm looked up at me. I could see his eyes wide open in surprise through the slit in his helmet.

The man’s head hit the floor with a loud noise and then bounced upward.

The hair on the back of my head, which had been neatly organized, became disheveled. I was lucky it wasn’t broken.

Fortunately, even if it breaks, you can just roll it back.

What happened to the man’s face? Was his nose broken after being slammed into the floor?

A small groan was heard. Judging from the fact that the head wasn’t drooping down, it didn’t seem like he had fainted.

I put my feet back on the floor and asked slowly.

“Please answer.”

“… … .”

I decided to count to 5 seconds.

5,4,3—

“You are too much.”

With two seconds left, the man said.

Until just a moment ago, his voice had been normal, but now it was rough, as if it had been torn apart by the ground. Furthermore, it was a voice that seemed to be coming out through clenched teeth.

“Too much?”

When I asked back, the man continued speaking.

“… … Didn’t the royal family already know about this?”

“… … .”

The room became quiet.

I turned my gaze back to the knight’s face.

Just like when I swung my foot earlier, I saw eyes that were wide open.

“Would you please arrest this man and leave for a moment?”

As I spoke in a calm tone, the knight nodded.

“The story will continue after this person leaves.”

“… … .”

The man had no answer.