Ch.231Chapter 231. The Final Subjugation

After dealing with the clones and vampires using the Crown Prince’s ability, I brought Vivian to the imperial palace’s guest room, then sat down on the bed to rest my tired body.

Having successfully rescued Vivian, I couldn’t just leave her. I needed to consult with my companions about what to do with her.

“Ugh… Oppa?”

After waiting for some time, Garam Lee, who had been lying on the bed, raised herself up, clutching her head as she turned toward me.

“Why am I in bed… Did I lose consciousness?”

“Yes, you were ambushed by a vampire.”

Since I had beheaded that vampire, the hypnotic magic should have disappeared from Garam’s body. Judging by the absence of any residual power, there shouldn’t be any immediate problems.

As I felt relieved about this, Garam stared blankly into space, as if lost in thought.

“Ah, I see. So what I saw earlier was just a dream…?”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“No, not a nightmare, but a good dream. You were running to me terrified, then clinging to me while sobbing…”

“…Hey.”

“Hahaha, I’m just joking.”

Joking, she says.

Even though we’re close, seeing her take pleasure in my pain makes me question things.

“…Well, I’m glad you’re safe anyway.”

But now isn’t the time for scolding. With a bitter smile, I let it slide as Garam looked down at the person resting her head on my lap and asked:

“By the way, who is that person?”

Vivian Platonis.

Even while under hypnosis earlier, she had regained her senses upon recognizing me and trembled in fear.

“Was she in the castle? Does Oppa know her?”

“…….”

Silently, I spent time stroking Vivian’s head as she slept against me, having lost consciousness now that the tension had eased.

Like the clones I had dealt with, she too was created by the Crown Prince’s ability, but I couldn’t bring myself to simply cut her down. The difference between her and the other clones was that the Crown Prince’s ability couldn’t replicate my power.

“…How should I put this?”

But perhaps because there was someone more important waiting before me? Unable to find the right words to answer Garam’s question about my relationship with Vivian, I simply continued stroking her head.

And I wondered.

Could I truly treat and love her—merely a replica created from someone’s ability, based on a human who had awakened a witch’s power—as a human being, like the girl before me?

“…Oppa?”

“Garam.”

After the silence, I called her name.

As Garam looked at me questioningly, I continued stroking Vivian’s head while trying to change the subject.

“Can we talk about the past while we rest a bit?”

“…The past?”

“Yes, about the time before I met you.”

If I couldn’t find an answer, I needed time to think.

Despite this somewhat unreasonable request, Garam casually took a seat opposite me.

“Sure, you seem tired, so taking a break is fine.”

Grateful for this moment of respite, I began to share a story from my memories.

“Garam, you probably know that among those summoned to this world, those deemed unqualified to be Heroes are immediately expelled from the imperial palace.”

Before becoming a Hero, and before becoming an adventurer, I was just a Foreign Laborer. Unable to properly handle even mana, let alone spirits, I was just an ordinary citizen whose only strength was adapting well anywhere.

“To survive, I had to do whatever it took. And if that wasn’t enough, I had to take risks.”

I worked in factories filled with such ordinary people, and when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I found comfort in earning hazard pay as a porter for Heroes.

Sometimes by luck, sometimes by begging for my life from hostile forces with personalities, I survived in a cowardly and miserable way by catering to their whims.

I saved money hoping that someday… someday even a mere Foreign Laborer like me could grow to become someone like a Hero.

“The hardest part was… having so few people I could trust, I could count them on my fingers.”

Unlike now, back then those I could trust were either struggling to take care of themselves or lived in such different worlds that we couldn’t stay together for long.

Everyone else despised and mocked me for being a Foreign Laborer…

Self-important authorities would act beyond reason, ultimately causing pain to those they left behind when they departed.

“I felt disillusioned. With life itself back then.”

Why was I brought to this world, and was there any meaning in living this tightrope walk between expectation and betrayal?

When no one offers a proper answer about the future, it becomes too painful for someone who considers endurance their only skill.

I wish I could just give up, but the faint hope that flickered before me always emphasized that I shouldn’t abandon even that.

“That’s probably why I developed special feelings for the employer who provided me with the only place where I could be comfortable.”

I met Vivian when I was exhausted from such a life.

At first, I followed her simply because she offered a lot of money, but what I encountered there was a familiar and warm kindness I had never experienced as a porter.

I liked that kindness.

I thought that if it continued, I would gladly give up my dreams as an adventurer and do my best for her.

“…Did you decide to stay with that person?”

“No. It was impossible back then.”

But I ended up parting ways with her.

“Why?”

“I was afraid. Of her.”

I couldn’t accept her.

And believing I wouldn’t accept her, she distanced herself from me.

“…I couldn’t understand.”

That was the best choice at the time.

If I had disturbed her mood any further, I might have ended up like those who died by her hand.

I was too weak and insignificant to be with her.

“Because I couldn’t understand… because I was afraid to meet her again, I thought just forgetting and moving on was the only thing allowed to me.”

No one would have thought that choice was wrong.

Anyone could guess that if I aimed to stand by her side—someone who lived on an entirely different level—this precarious life would eventually end.

Nevertheless…

“Still, I couldn’t forget her.”

Because along with the fear I felt toward her, there was an equally intense emotion.

“As much as I feared her, I vividly remembered the kindness she showed me.”

The protagonist of those feelings now appears before me, sleeping in my arms.

Though she’s essentially a lie from her very origin, with her memories destroyed, making her no different from an empty doll, she remembers me and depends on me.

“So… how do you feel now?”

By now, I had become the center of her world.

Which means she would no longer harm me.

The pounding in my heart that I feel even now no longer contains any flutter for her.

“Do you still think you can’t be with her?”

Yet the hesitation in my heart stems from the guilt of not being able to fully accept her feelings for me.

Perhaps because she might have been my first… I know it’s too late now to respond to those feelings.

“…It might be too late, but I might regret it if I let go here.”

But we’ve met like this now, and my hand no longer trembles as I stroke her.

The sensation is so vivid, and she exists within arm’s reach… How could I choose to abandon her and leave alone, claiming it’s too much to handle?

“So, I’m sorry to you who came all this way with me…”

I want to find a way for both Irie and Vivian to coexist.

“Go ahead.”

Before I could even finish expressing my decision, Garam answered and approached Vivian, reaching out to support her fallen body.

Supporting her and preparing to turn her back on me.

“Unlike Oppa, if I’m vulnerable enough to be ambushed, I might just be a liability from here on. This might be better.”

“…Garam.”

“They’re both important people, right? Both this person here and Oppa’s benefactor…”

A gentle smile gradually formed on her lips as she faced me.

That same emotion remained when she turned to look at Vivian, whom she had placed on the bed using her ability.

As if saying she would care for the people I care for.

“Happiness is meaningful only when everyone can share it together, right?”

Only after hearing that these thoughts weren’t a misunderstanding could I calm my anxious feelings and prepare to leave.

“…I’ll definitely come back.”

Hoping that the happiness this child spoke of…

Could be shared with my partner waiting ahead.

*****

“…Fufu. My, it’s been a while since I’ve been caught off guard by a human like this.”

Scheherazade, who had moved stealthily to a terrace on the outskirts of the imperial palace and jumped down into the garden, grasped her severed neck with a sinister smile.

“Not only did you cut off my head without warning, but you even cauterized it with fire. I would have died if I weren’t a True Ancestor, right? Fufu.”

While ordinary vampires die if their regeneration is hindered for too long, True Ancestors like her can maintain their lives even if reduced to ashes.

Unless a weapon that suppresses regenerative power is thrust into their heart—the source of their life—for an extended period, they will not disappear from this world.

This means that if they’re in good condition, they can seek opportunities to rise again and again.

“But even so, I was fighting quite seriously, so I didn’t expect this outcome. I guess there was a good reason why the Crown Prince chose him.”

Although she failed once, Scheherazade didn’t merely find it regrettable.

For someone who considers herself an ascetic, even a humiliating defeat is something to endure.

Moreover, since her sworn lord wishes to eliminate the intruder, she cannot simply flee while preserving her life.

“Let’s see, the witch failed, so what’s next? The members of the New Era and cooperative Heroes have already become bait to lure in the Demon Lord, and everyone left in the imperial palace has long been driven out or imprisoned… Ah, yes, the prison!”

Clapping her hands together, Scheherazade looked toward the far side of the garden where she was hiding.

In that direction stood a detention facility for those who had committed crimes within the empire, and inside were many with the strength she could use as her servants.

Especially in a situation like this, the most suitable beings would be the fallen Heroes who had rebelled against the empire.

If she could form an army through them, it would be possible to catch up with him while he was exploring the imperial palace and corner him.

“Fufu, the Crown Prince must have left them alive for times like this. Since the garden and prison are close, I should quickly gather forces…”

-THUD!!!

“Kuhak!!!”

At that moment, her back was pierced by a weapon that flew from behind.

Struck by the attack, Scheherazade coughed up blood as she looked down at what had penetrated her chest.

An object too thick and heavy to be called a weapon…

The so-called stake had visible electric currents burning the surrounding flesh.

-BZZZZT!

As the current amplified, Scheherazade’s body burst into flames.

As weakness overcame her and her body collapsed to the ground, the attacker who retrieved the stake from her body slowly approached.

“The first thing to do when attacking vampires is to block the blood flow to the heart, which is the source of regenerative power, with a thick weapon…”

“But a True Ancestor won’t die just from having their heart pierced.”

“Puhh, ahahahahaha!”

With a cheerful laugh, Scheherazade rose to her feet.

Though she had suffered a fatal wound and her regenerative power was weakened by the electric current burning her flesh, it wasn’t enough to cause death for a True Ancestor like her.

Rather, for someone who enjoys pain, such intense shock was even somewhat ecstatic.

“My, I was caught off guard. You seem to be that person’s companion—are you here to rescue people from the prison?”

At this moment, when the malice of the one who gave her such sensation was aimed at her and even her plans to protect the imperial palace were thwarted, Scheherazade stared at the approaching figure with an immensely joyful smile.

A girl with eyes filled with intense hostility—too deep to be merely attacking a suspicious enemy.

“For that, your attack against me was quite fueled by hatred… Why is that? Did I unknowingly cause you trouble?”

-Crunch.

The girl gritted her teeth at the question born of pure curiosity.

Then, gripping the magic swirling around her hand more fiercely, she began to express her hostility toward the staggering Scheherazade.

“…Even if all vampires disappeared, the Crown Prince must have spent a lot of time preparing to lead a situation like this.”

Because as a protector of the empire, she could no longer bear to witness such a situation.

Despite her mission, she had to leave this place, but she couldn’t suppress her anger toward the one who caused it.

“It was you, wasn’t it? The one who separated from the other vampires, persuaded the Crown Prince, and created the starting point for the current situation in the empire.”

“…Persuaded? Me?”

To say she created the starting point for the empire’s destruction—how ridiculous!

Of course, she had served as a sort of nanny among the vampires for the Crown Prince and had helped him build immunity to aphrodisiacs for light entertainment, but it was Crown Prince Seis himself who decided to commit such acts.

Rather, because he wasn’t affected by aphrodisiacs, he held the initiative, and she had even joined under him because she sought asceticism… Why was this girl defining her, not the Crown Prince, as the root of all evil?

“It’s not entirely wrong…”

But she was a being who believed in the aesthetics that noble beings must undergo asceticism.

If that asceticism aligned not with protecting the imperial palace but with receiving hatred directed at her, she couldn’t help but lean toward that.

“…What will you do if I answer like that?”

As soon as she heard the answer with such intent, a surge of power erupted with a BZZT!

The girl bearing that power controlled the force contained in the wires rising from her body and drove a wedge into her emotions toward the vampire facing her.

“Doll Hunter Francesca.”

“From now on, as a protector of the empire, I will commence the final subjugation against the one who brought about the empire’s collapse.”

To execute the last survivor of the group that destroyed everything she had protected.

And with that, she pledged to abandon all attachments to this land.