Ch.108Stolen (Former) Comrade

The ambush had failed.

All that remained was rebuke.

“Answer me, Sapaul. Why did you kill your comrade?”

It would have been too much to say ‘I didn’t kill him, he died because he was weak’ – even the other outsiders of Maxwell’s Forces were looking at Sapaul with disgust.

So he softened his words a bit.

“That boy had to be killed.”

“I told you to wait, why did you act so impatiently?”

“Wait? Why? Do I need that much patience to kill one inferior creature?”

His patience had already reached its limit.

That boy was a beggar who would crumble if squeezed, yet he was running wild without knowing his place, which was extremely irritating.

“We might not get another chance. Earlier, when we had the opportunity, we should have eliminated him. If just one more of you had stepped up, the operation would have succeeded.”

“What you did on your own whim isn’t called an operation, Sapaul.”

“What did you just say?”

Sapaul wrapped his tentacles around the fellow outsider’s neck. The outsider, who resembled a pufferfish, choked and inflated his head.

“Here, I am the law. If anyone has complaints, come at me all at once. If you defeat me, I’ll hand over the voting rights to you and step back to just snort coins.”

Even when he proposed a hierarchy challenge, no outsider stepped forward.

Growing even more arrogant, Sapaul shouted.

“If it weren’t for that yellow-haired girl, we could have killed the boy with just one comrade’s sacrifice. But everything went wrong. The opportunity flew away, and they’ve prepared themselves thoroughly, so there’s no solution now!”

“Why are you making such a fuss—GAAACK!”

A circular wire mesh swept through the head of the grape-like outsider.

His head was ripped out with a tearing sound. The other outsiders ducked in shock.

“Does any other comrade think I’m making a fuss?”

“……”

“Good, seems like no one does.”

Sapaul brought the extracted grape-like head to his mouth with an inhale. His mouth, shaped like an amplifier, made thump-thump sounds before crushing and bursting the head in one gulp.

“Those Darwin guys are too arrogant. Acting so nonchalant like it’s not their business. Surely they must know we’ll all suffer if ‘The End’ gets us…”

“Kugh, GAAACK!”

“Enough, I’ll specially forgive you just this once.”

After ripping off a few more heads of fellow outsiders, he slammed them to the floor.

Trapped in the spirit chamber with nowhere to go.

Anyway, in this place, there were no outsiders who could oppose him or defeat him if they did, so it was his world.

He could gather as many comrades as needed to fight against ‘The End’.

After biding his time, when a gap appeared, he would kill all the comrades here as sacrifices, kill the boy, and escape the spirit chamber.

However, finding that gap now seemed nearly impossible.

A female-formed entity wearing a maid headband entered the recovery room he was observing.

***

“Young master, why is the security buzzer in such a secluded place?”

“I dropped it during the fight.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Sonia’s sharp gaze pierces through me. It’s as if she’s saying, ‘I’ll kill you if you lie.’

“Why did you release Ireh Hazlen’s restraints?”

“That guy went berserk on his own.”

“For that to be true, the restraint device was released too smoothly.”

“……”

“I’ll proceed with fingerprint analysis.”

I’m screwed.

After Sonia’s investigation, rivaling that of a forensic team, the culprit behind this mess was narrowed down to me. Sonia made me kneel, placed a hibiscus tea bag, and sipped it.

She pulled back her fist and said.

“I’ll give you a chance to explain. Three, two, one.”

And shoot.

***

Only after declaring “I won’t do it again!” one hundred times to Sonia did my bones turn to dust and my soul… God, please save me, it hurts so much.

Just as I was suppressing the urge to cry out loud, Sonia embraced me and stroked my head.

“Do you know how much my power core dropped?”

“……”

“If I were to lose you, I would have nowhere to go except the scrap yard. Please understand that your lifespan is my lifespan. I’m begging you.”

Around the “begging” part, she slapped the back of my head repeatedly.

This is that thing.

Parents who beat their child senseless when they do something wrong, then hug and comfort them at the end. In the past, it was considered a proper disciplinary method, but looking back as an adult, it was just gaslighting.

That’s right. I’m currently being manipulated by an android’s tongue skills. The end of the human era has arrived.

“Sonia? Eidel? What are you two doing?”

“I was just comforting him for a moment.”

When Rustila called, Sonia naturally released her entangled hands.

“What’s the matter?”

“This child is about to wake up.”

Ireh was twitching her shoulders. We sat side by side and observed her. It felt like we were staring blankly at an egg about to hatch.

“What on earth…”

Ireh woke up, holding her head. As soon as she made eye contact with me, she startled and backed away. Then, seeing Rustila, she peeked forward again.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“No, not at all…”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Rustila. It was the outsider’s doing.”

At my advice, Rustila nodded.

During the brief time, Rustila and Ireh introduced themselves.

In fact, Ireh already knew Rustila. Her bitter smile looked somewhat pitiful.

After all, the two had built a strong bond several times in previous iterations.

Ireh had been Rustila’s sparring partner when she was wandering.

She had stood up for her whenever Zernya picked fights.

And lifted her up whenever she was about to collapse in front of the divine vessel.

The Rustila in the novel is Ireh Hazlen’s creation. Although Ireh only helped her because she needed Rustila’s qualities, she must have remained a meaningful friend to that iteration’s Rustila until her dying moment.

Ireh probably harbors some affection too.

The two look at each other with gentle smiles… Wait, why aren’t they smiling? Hey, you two?

“Did you talk well with Eidel? Now go rest.”

An ice-cold voice came from Rustila’s mouth. Ireh’s expression turned to bewilderment.

“…Um?”

“What.”

“No, just… wondering if you’re feeling unwell.”

“I’m not.”

With each frost-like short sentence, the room temperature seemed to drop by about 10 degrees. For reference, that’s in Fahrenheit.

“Let’s go too.”

Rustila grabbed my damaged hand and slowly stood up. She naturally rested my arm on her shoulder.

It was a common way of supporting someone, but what mattered was that Ireh had a dumbfounded expression seeing us like this.

“You, you two seem close…?”

“We are close.”

Rustila looked at me and added, “Right?” Unlike before, her tone was bright and warm, which surprised me. I nodded, quite pleased.

“Sonia, take good care of Ireh.”

“Understood. I will monitor her thoroughly to ensure she doesn’t leave.”

And so we left the spirit chamber.

Although I inadvertently showed a friendly relationship with Rustila, it was beneficial in the end. This way, I provided another piece of evidence that I’m not ‘Eidel’.

All the way back on the shuttle, Rustila kept leaning her head toward me. It was a gesture she occasionally showed when she wanted something.

“Shall we go eat together after a long time?”

“Y-yes!”

Rustila’s face lit up.

***

While Eidel and Rustila were having dinner time.

Sonia, who was in charge of Ireh’s meal, laundry, and surveillance, was lonely baking a bread bowl.

She put sweet honey and garlic sauce inside the moist spherical bread, adding cheese for volume.

Inside, she filled it with rose cream spaghetti and decorated it with bacon and parsley.

Finally, she added a couple of roasted cherry tomatoes to capture the acidity unique to fruit.

She made another identical one and prepared yogurt soaked with rye cereal.

Originally, these were foods she was going to make for her young master.

“Meal is ready.”

“Aaaah, uuuugh.”

When she entered the recovery room with the tray, Ireh was pulling at her hair.

“Meal is ready.”

“Why on earth, aaaargh.”

“Meal is ready.”

“Rustila, why are you with someone like him…!”

“I said the meal is ready.”

“My head hurts, it hurts!”

“……”

Carefully returning to the kitchen, she grabbed a 1.2m baguette.

This hard and heavy sensation. Perfect for gripping and swinging.

“Please come to your senses.”

“Kyaaak!”

Sonia (as she did with Eidel) beat Ireh and then patted her. Even amid this sudden gaslighting, only one thought circled in Ireh’s mind.

Rustila, and Eidel.

What kind of relationship do these two have in this world line?

When asked about this, Sonia gave a bland answer.

“Didn’t you see it once at Alcatraz? The young master and miss are incredibly close.”

“No way, that can’t be.”

“If I were to describe it, they’re more than friends but less than lovers. They’re soulmates. I hear the Kersil family is secretly considering a wedding ceremony…”

“Aaaaargh!”

Ireh put a spoonful of pasta in her mouth and twisted her body in all directions. It’s delicious, this can’t be. It’s delicious, but what about Rustila now?

Calm down, Ireh Hazlen.

You’ve already determined that this iteration’s Eidel isn’t a scoundrel.

But the changed aspect turned out to be even more serious.

– Do you know physics?

– It’s a really fun subject.

– Want to come to graduate school?

At this rate, Rustila might pick up a pen instead of a sword.

“No, no. Absolutely not!”

That would mean the destruction of the universe.

Someone with talent for the sword should be in the military; if they go somewhere like graduate school, this iteration would have to be abandoned. Rustila is the Federation’s greatest military power!

“Bring Rustila here. I need to talk to her!”

“She went on a date with Young Master Eidel.”

“W-what?”

“Even if I call her, she probably won’t return until tomorrow.”

“Ah.”

Ireh fell backward, foaming at the mouth.

“I’ll eat the remaining pasta.”

Slurp slurp slurp.

After clearing the food, Sonia sighed.

“If only I were human too…”