Ch.312312. Retribution

The boy was, considering his upbringing, truly a miraculous human being.

It was clear that he hadn’t grown up in a place where humans could live normally.

For an orphan without any guardian, the slums were a place where all kinds of threats lurked every day. A hell manifested on earth.

There were times when self-proclaimed guardians turned out to be terrible sex offenders, and times when he nearly fell victim to human trafficking after escaping from an orphanage and getting entangled with unsavory people.

Growing up in such an environment, it was only natural that he would be lacking in many areas needed to serve as a bodyguard for a wealthy young lady.

He learned how to deceive people before learning letters, how to flee from fights, how to push anything into his mouth to avoid starvation…

That was the extent of the boy’s knowledge. Only knowledge that consumed his future to survive today.

“He’s no better than a beast, my lady.”

It was understandable why the boy’s “education supervisor” had said such things.

A vagrant from the slums. A being living at the bottom of life, having learned neither education, emotion, nor warmth.

Without leisure, people slowly wither away, and as they wither, they lose more leisure, and as they lose leisure, they gradually become more like beasts.

Theft. Drug dealing. Contract work.

The boy had done everything possible to survive.

“…So, he’ll survive wherever you drop him. It’s true that he learns anything quickly. He’s quick-witted and cold-headed, but…”

Survival is an important issue for everyone.

You have to do whatever it takes to survive. That’s how it had to be.

“I’m not sure if he’s suitable for ‘protecting’ someone. This guy.”

But.

“-That’s not right.”

He remembered hearing those words one day.

He remembered the girl saying those words to him.

“It’s just because you haven’t been taught. Then someone should teach you.”

Now it was such a distant memory that even the boy couldn’t remember it clearly.

The girl taught the boy about “human life.”

His first warm meal, a place to sleep, interactions with people. How to handle emotions. How to blend in with people.

The girl.

She taught the boy what ordinary happiness was.

Fleeting memories piled up, layer upon layer, until life in the slums became a distant memory beyond the accumulated recollections.

The boy.

Under the girl’s protection, he gradually became “human.”

“-Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“What did you see in someone like me that made you go this far?”

One day, the boy had asked the girl such a question.

It was a question he had asked many times but never received a satisfying answer to.

It was the day they were approaching exactly five years since meeting the girl.

Both were just before coming of age.

The girl’s willingness to answer straightforwardly that day was probably largely influenced by that timing.

“I grew up with many restrictions.”

The girl had always been sickly.

Looking back, most of his memories were of her sitting or lying in bed.

She had a rare disease. Something about the blood vessels leading to her heart narrowing day by day.

Simple movements that were easy for others were arduous tasks for the girl, only possible with the help of various assistive devices.

If a wealthy family’s daughter was born with such a rare disease, she would naturally receive the highest level of medical support, but that also meant the list of “things she couldn’t do” would be ridiculously long.

“This isn’t allowed for this reason, that isn’t allowed for that reason… it’s annoying when everything you do is interfered with. So I wanted to act on my own whim just once. Bringing you in as a bodyguard was purely on that caprice.”

“…So there wasn’t any special reason?”

The boy muttered with a somewhat disappointed expression.

Seeing this, the girl giggled with an amused look and continued.

“No. There was a reason it had to be you specifically.”

“What was it?”

“You looked like a wet cat trying to appear threatening by puffing up its fur.”

“…”

“You were so cute for a while after I brought you in. It felt like raising a prim and proper pet.”

“…”

“Believe me. You act like you’re super cold-headed, smart, and clever, but you’re destined to be wrapped around the finger of whatever woman sits on top of your head—”

“…That’s enough.”

As the boy frowned and replied curtly, the girl chuckled again.

Even while expressing such annoyance, the fact that his hands continued peeling an apple for the girl without stopping revealed his true nature.

“Don’t be like that, come here.”

The girl tapped the spot next to her bed.

She meant for him to come sit beside her. Of course, the boy who had just been subjected to all sorts of insulting remarks refused.

“Why.”

“I said come here, punk. Do you want to die?”

“…”

For a daughter of a wealthy family, the girl sometimes had a way of speaking like a drunken sailor.

Knowing from experience that not quietly following her orders at times like this would lead to trouble, the boy obediently sat down next to the girl, who then flopped down onto his lap.

“…Of course, it was just a whim back then.”

“Huh?”

“I found out I’m a person with more lingering affection than I thought. Even for someone I brought in on a whim, I’ve accumulated all sorts of memories.”

Saying that, the girl embraced the boy with both arms.

Warmth transferred between them. With his face buried against the girl’s abdomen, the girl continued with a chuckle.

“Now, it has to be you.”

“…I see.”

The boy answered calmly and resumed peeling the apple.

As the sound of the knife gliding over the fruit occasionally echoed through the hospital room, the girl’s faint murmur spread dimly.

“I told you earlier that bringing you in was because I wanted to act on my own whim once.”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, there’s one more thing I want to do on my own whim. Mom and Dad would be furious if they knew.”

“What is it?”

In response to that question, the girl simply grinned instead of answering directly.

“Se-cret-“

-Certainly.

He remembered hearing those words.

It was a week before the kidnapping incident.

●

“He’s doing better than I expected.”

Professor Mobius muttered those words as he looked at Darwood Campbell standing on the stage.

Of course, he hadn’t thought his opponent would be easily defeated, but it was certainly impressive that his momentum hadn’t easily broken even after fighting continuously against automatons containing “magic” that Mobius had replicated as closely as possible.

“The third one… he still hasn’t properly faltered yet.”

Mobius muttered as he watched the automaton spreading red flames in all directions.

The automatons mimicking the Blue Demon with the power of crushing and the White Demon with the power of enchantment had already fallen.

He had even gone so far as to mimic nearby figures to undermine his opponent’s fighting spirit, but Darwood Campbell had

However.

The more battles continued.

The “anger” inside him was visibly intensifying, even to Mobius’s observation.

Occasionally, in the glances directed at him between battles, the burning black hostility was clearly growing stronger.

And.

‘That’s enough.’

Mobius smiled with satisfaction.

Provoking such emotions was his intention all along.

Anger dulls judgment, increases impulsiveness, and greatly reduces the ability to respond in sudden situations.

And.

Finally.

There was still a long way to go before reaching his “trump card” that he had hidden.

If Darwood Campbell faced it at the very end.

The anger he harbored would eventually consume himself.

“I’m not the one who tried to start a civil war in the Empire, but~”

Beside Mobius who was observing these facts, Marquis Bogart, kneeling with his sword at his side, suddenly spoke up.

Though his tone was frivolous as usual, there was clearly a rare genuine “disgust” mixed in.

“You’re truly garbage, Professor Mobius.”

As Professor Mobius slightly turned his gaze toward him in response to Marquis Bogart’s words, the Marquis continued, spitting out his words.

“No matter what, a person who knows their limits wouldn’t do something so petty just to get under someone’s skin. You call yourself a Demonic Spire Master, but where have you sold your dignity and honor?”

“…”

Cheap provocation.

“No. That’s not it.”

Thinking this, Mobius let out a derisive laugh and crossed his legs.

“It’s because you and that man are bound by such trivial things that you’re suffering such harsh treatment in a place like this, Marquis Bogart.”

“…What?”

“I heard Professor Astrid was your first love. With her limited lifespan remaining, you concocted all sorts of schemes to try to save her from me, didn’t you?”

“…”

From his perspective.

“I don’t understand. Why do you cling to such pathetic things?”

“…”

“Truly wise people think first about how to control others through such things. Don’t you agree?”

In the eyes of Mobius, who had always analyzed the world through clear data since birth.

Family love, friendship, romantic love.

Emotions are utterly trivial things. They’re nothing more than chemical reactions of hormones secreted in the brain that can change at any time.

For Mobius, who had already categorized such things as variables that could be controlled, both the man named Bogart who had ended up in this miserable state trying to save his first love, and Darwood Campbell who was twisting his body to save his mother on the other side, looked equally pathetic.

“…”

Marquis Bogart exhaled deeply.

Yes. Perhaps it could be seen that way.

One shouldn’t try to understand the thoughts of a madman in the first place.

However.

‘…That seems to be what will bring this guy down.’

Thinking this, he fixed his gaze on Darwood Campbell fighting on the stage.

Of course, he was angry.

His desire to kill Mobius, who was insulting him and those around him in such a manner, was clearly growing stronger.

But.

That wasn’t all there was to it.

Beneath the emotion showing on the surface. Digging below the surface, going deeper to the more fundamental core.

The “intention” there was.

‘…Again.’

However, his intuition, which had been observing that man all this time, was clearly telling him.

‘You’re planning something, aren’t you?’

That man, clearly.

Was planning to make Mobius face “retribution” right here.