Ch.139Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan. (1)

Pashut.

The red mist dissolved into dust and disappeared. Olivia stared at the unconscious Serial Murderer, contemplating how to deal with him.

‘…Could I bring him to my side?’

In truth, there was no need to recruit the Serial Murderer.

Now that it was Imperial Year 993, Kiel and Melina’s favorability should have increased to some extent. The same would be true for Livga.

The King of Martial Arts was difficult to predict, making things a bit ambiguous, but Esthie could be recruited without much difficulty.

Add to that the three apprentices of the Grandmaster, plus Glacia who had grown into a proper dragon…

‘…It’s going to be close?’

The princess has six core forces.

The two Dragon Lords, the Master of Dark, the Rebel, the Devilhunter, and the Druid.

Even including the King of Martial Arts, it would be a tie.

‘Should I recruit this one too?’

Olivia looked down at the Serial Murderer with a displeased expression. Of course, if she took the lead herself, dealing with the princess’s forces wouldn’t be difficult.

But if she did that… she would also lose the image she had worked so hard to build.

Olivia, who sacrifices herself to care for others.

Olivia, who has saved the world throughout eternity.

After repeating such a life through countless cycles, suddenly attacking the princess?

That’s not something Olivia would do.

‘That’s something Asmodeus might do.’

In the end, she had no choice but to encourage the returners themselves to bring down the princess.

‘For that, I need to balance the power first.’

Which meant she needed to recruit the Serial Murderer.

Olivia slowly reached her hand toward the Serial Murderer. At the same time, a notification window appeared.

[Clue #11]

[Memory of Imperial Year 997]

‘…997 is too late.’

The current Serial Murderer had been assimilated with Baphomet for too long, resulting in an extremely psychopathic mindset.

It would be better not to recruit someone with such a mental state than to have him disrupt the team.

Then there was only one way.

‘I need to go further back than 997.’

Olivia searched through the notification windows for a long time.

And then, she found it.

[Reward for acquiring 7 clues]

[From now on, you can use clues without direct contact.]

This was the reward she had received on the day she was ganged up on by the six returners.

It wouldn’t be a useless reward that simply allowed her to use clues from a few steps away.

Perhaps…

Olivia reached out into the empty air, quietly closed her eyes, and concentrated. After some time, text appeared in the air.

[Which clue would you like to use?]

[Available clues: Clue #3, Clue #5, Clue #6, Clue #7, Clue #8, Clue #9, Clue #10, Clue #11]

Olivia smiled.

She knew this would happen.

‘Now this is a proper reward.’

Olivia felt the texture of the characters wrapping around her fingers. She had already decided which clue to choose.

[Clue #7]

[Memory of Imperial Year 994]

By using this, she could go further back than 997 and ‘re-educate’ the Serial Murderer.

‘I need to at least make him controllable.’

In her previous life, the annihilation cycle, she controlled the Serial Murderer through [Annihilation] itself.

The Serial Murderer was instantly captivated by the proposal to annihilate all life on the continent and volunteered to become Olivia’s hunting dog.

True to his title as [Serial Murderer], he slaughtered countless humans.

But the Serial Murderer she met in the cycle that reached the normal ending was a bit different.

He cut off the limbs of the watchers sent by Aria, but at least he didn’t kill them.

Even when Olivia, whom he had longed to kill his entire life, breathed her last, he wasn’t consumed by madness.

[Goodbye, Olivia.]

It felt rather peaceful.

‘In that cycle, I must have met him much earlier than 997.’

Olivia’s goal was to transform him into a controllable psychopath.

[Do you want to use Clue #7?]

The next moment, Olivia’s consciousness flickered.

*****

With a gasp, her breath rushed in.

It was the first time she had entered a clue since Esthie, but this distinctive sensation hadn’t been forgotten.

When she opened her eyes, a quiet desert shrouded in darkness stretched before her. It seemed to be the southern part of the continent. This was a natural result.

After all, Clue #7 belonged to the Devilhunter.

“…You’re up early. Your turn is still far off, so you should get some more rest.”

Olivia slowly turned her head. The Devilhunter was sitting in front of a crackling campfire. She appeared to be on watch duty.

Instead of listening to the Devilhunter, Olivia got up and stretched. Unfortunately, she had no time to spare for her.

This had been decided from the moment she chose to reform the [Serial Murderer] using Clue #7.

It couldn’t be helped. If the Devilhunter, who had hated Olivia, suddenly became friendly, anyone would think she had been subjected to mental magic.

If this became known, even the returners who had taken Olivia’s side would begin to doubt whether their own thoughts had been manipulated.

She couldn’t risk losing everything she had worked so hard to build just to win over one person.

“…Olivia?”

As soon as Olivia began to walk away, the Devilhunter spoke in a surprised voice.

Thud.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“…I don’t think I need to tell you.”

The Devilhunter flinched at the cold tone.

“Did I… make a mistake?”

Her faded golden eyes trembled occasionally. It was understandable that she was perplexed.

Currently, the Devilhunter’s favorability was 50.

It was like a reliable comrade whom you could trust with your back suddenly drawing a line.

Mistake?

The Devilhunter hadn’t done anything wrong. But that didn’t mean Olivia wanted to tell her that fact.

Olivia said nothing. Her face remained impassive, as if she had no interest.

The more Olivia acted this way, the more the Devilhunter felt like her lips were burning.

She must have done something to upset Olivia, but she couldn’t think of what it might be.

Olivia was about to leave immediately, and the Devilhunter had no way to stop her.

In the end, all she could do was try to hold her accountable.

“B-but the watch duty…”

“I just need to be back before then.”

At those words, Olivia slowly turned her head. Her eyes were fixed directly on the Devilhunter.

“Right?”

“…”

While the Devilhunter hesitated, Olivia vanished from her sight.

*****

[Using skill, ‘Teleport’.]

Olivia slowly surveyed her surroundings.

How many times had she used teleport?

The scene before her was completely different from the barren desert she had just seen. She had arrived in Machina, the most developed free city in Lactea.

Olivia covered herself with a robe and silently moved through the streets crowded with pedestrians. Nearby, drunk men were spreading out newspapers and talking loudly on the main road.

Olivia opened her ears and eavesdropped on their conversation. Most of it was trivial, but soon the topic she had been waiting for came up.

“Damn, I heard three more died yesterday?”

“Again? The security forces are about to get replaced.”

“They deserve it. They can’t even catch one crazy murderer.”

Olivia purchased a newspaper identical to the one they were reading and quickly scanned through it.

[The bodies of women were found cut into dozens of pieces on Road 9. The security authorities believe this to be the work of the same person as the previous murder case…]

Olivia immediately headed toward Road 9. She slipped through the shadows of the back alleys, passing several drunkards. At some point, Olivia had removed her robe and was boldly showing her face.

She felt prying eyes but paid them no mind.

‘It should be about time for the bait to work.’

As she was passing by a tavern emitting a damp yellow light, she felt a chilling gaze not far away.

‘…The bait worked.’

Soon, the lights in the alley went out one by one, leaving only the light from the tavern where Olivia was standing. In the suddenly darkened alley, a boy appeared without making a sound.

“Hello, miss.”

It was the Serial Murderer. His eyes were red like a demon’s, and simultaneously mesmerizing.

Humans without resistance would have been instantly captivated by those eyes and wouldn’t even think to be cautious.

They would have approached as if entranced.

“I haven’t seen your face before. How did you get here?”

The Serial Murderer slowly approached. Or more precisely, Baphomet, who was controlling his body.

“Don’t you know it’s dangerous for a woman to walk alone these days?”

Black smoke rose gently from beneath Baphomet’s feet. Olivia smirked.

“Well, I suppose it is dangerous with demons like you around.”

Swish!

Olivia ducked instantly. The smoke, transformed into a whip, flew past and struck the alley wall.

Baphomet’s eyes widened slightly. He hadn’t expected her to move so quickly.

Moreover, what was with that confident face?

[…How did you know?]

“With all that magical energy you’re giving off, how could I not?”

Olivia grinned. Somehow, her attire had changed to a robe symbolizing the Golden Tower.

“I’ll get you out soon, little one.”