Ch.79Chapter 3. The Path of the Goblin

Ermina Sternfeld.

A-rank ability user.

The power to generate sound waves by infusing mana into her voice.

“Huh…?”

When she opened her eyes, everything that defined her was gone.

The mana that once filled her body had completely evaporated, and a profound fatigue she had never experienced since becoming an ability user was weighing down her entire body.

It felt as if some water-like mass was pressing down on her body.

All she could see through her blurry vision was what appeared to be a hospital gown, yet despite nothing visibly weighing her down, her body felt heavy.

“I am…”

“Are you conscious?”

She found herself lying in what looked like a hospital.

Not just lying there—she was “restrained,” with her hands and feet bound to something.

“What’s going on…?”

“Where should I begin explaining.”

The man who appeared to be a faculty member pulled out a tablet with a rigid voice.

“Please don’t scream and listen carefully. There’s quite a lot to discuss. I’d appreciate if you didn’t interrupt with exclamations like ‘What did you say?!’ or ‘That’s impossible!’ Everything I’m about to tell you is ‘fact.'”

“……”

What on earth was he trying to say?

Ermina couldn’t understand this “non-ability user” who was looking at her with annoyed and contemptuous eyes.

“One. You attacked your fellow student Ymir during the outdoor training in March. You attempted to consume mana powder found inside the sea cave, Ymir discovered this, and you attacked her to silence her.”

“That’s absurd—”

“Don’t deny it. The forensic team and investigators have completed their investigation. All evidence of your crime has been secured. Your Taegeuk Watch, Ymir’s Taegeuk Watch. All the data contained within them. We have it all.”

“Ha….”

She wanted to deny the false accusation, but her Taegeuk Watch was already gone from her wrist.

“Who gave you the right to take my Taegeuk Watch…!”

“Two. Ermina Sternfeld has been expelled. You committed two actions unacceptable for a student. You tampered with mana powder and attempted to kill a fellow student.”

“But she’s just an E-rank…!”

“Three.”

The faculty member deliberately paused, taking a long breath with his cold voice.

“Ermina Sternfeld is no longer an A-rank ability user. You’ve lost all your mana and become unable to use your abilities.”

“What…?”

“You can feel it yourself, can’t you?”

“Ah, aah…. AAAAAAHHHHH!!”

Ermina screamed.

Not from pain, but because her voice was one of her abilities.

“…128 decibels. Quite loud. That’s the maximum frequency you can produce now. Quite different from when you infused your voice with mana.”

“The, the machine must be broken….”

“That’s not possible. As an ability user, you should know better. You’re now in a ‘Zenros’ state, having lost all your mana.”

“Me, a Zenros…?! That’s impossible!”

“Please stop saying things are impossible. What I’m telling you might be hard to believe, but it’s all true. Your hair has turned white, and your abilities are completely gone. You are indeed in a Zenros state…’ability loss condition.'”

“……”

Her ability was gone.

The power she had possessed since birth, the ability she had used consistently since establishing her identity, was gone.

“It’s extremely rare, but it’s a phenomenon that occurred frequently in Quebec, Canada and New York, USA.”

“B-but that’s fewer than 10 people…on Sejong Island…!”

“You’re the first case here. Well, it might be related to the Goblin who attacked you.”

“The one who attacked me wasn’t a Goblin—”

The words wouldn’t come out.

As if a rope was tied around her throat, she couldn’t speak any further.

“…If there’s anything the investigators haven’t clearly established yet, it’s the process of how you were attacked by the Goblin.”

“I…urgh?!”

“The Goblin did quite a terrible thing. Did it place a taboo on you? Did the Goblin place a restriction? Did the Goblin take away your ability?”

“N-no…! The one who did this to me…!”

The faculty member asked several questions, but Ermina couldn’t speak.

Because of the curse.

“If that’s the case, you’re the first case of someone losing their ability due to a Goblin. You’re living proof that Goblins possess the ability to remove an ability user’s powers.”

“N-no…!”

“Was there someone else involved?”

“……!!”

“The taboo seems to be activating. Every time you try to say something, a red line flashes. Confirmation that Goblins can use such abilities too…though it might not actually be the case, but there’s a possibility….”

“Ugh, uugh…!”

Communication was impossible.

Ermina tried desperately to get up and find someone she could talk to, but she couldn’t escape from the restraints firmly binding her wrists and ankles.

“Release me at once! What is this about! I am…a Sternfeld!”

“Yes. Not an A-rank ability user, just a person from Sternfeld. The Academy has already sent all investigation materials regarding the current situation to Stern Corporation. And this is Stern Corporation’s official position.”

The faculty member played a video he had prepared on his tablet.

“Grandfather…?”

There was an elderly man with half-balding white hair, wearing a black suit, holding a press conference.

[I am sorry.]

With a serious face, he began with somewhat awkward Korean, then stepped to the side of the podium and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

[It is my fault for raising my granddaughter poorly. I will take responsibility by stepping down as chairman of the company, by financially compensating for the damage caused by my granddaughter, and by offering sincere apologies to those who have been harmed.]

“…Why?”

“You know what mana powder is, don’t you? Regardless of how it got there, mana powder is….”

The faculty member shook his head gravely.

“Made from the remains of those under 25 years old.”

“……”

“Ermina Sternfeld.”

The faculty member turned to the last screen on his tablet.

“You have the right to remain silent….”

“Wait!! Why, why are you reading me my Miranda rights! I am an ‘ability user’ unrelated to that!!”

“Even if you don’t acknowledge it, the whole world has. You are a ‘normal person’…’non-ability user’ to whom Miranda rights apply.”

“……”

“You crossed the line. You’re fortunate to have lost all your abilities; otherwise, you wouldn’t be in this world anymore.”

The faculty member stood up with his tablet.

“Because the Goblin executes villains without mercy.”

* * *

-Why didn’t you kill that woman who did crazy things with dead children?

“Society will kill her anyway, so there’s no need for me to get blood on my hands.”

I inadvertently answered aloud to the flood of insults about Ermina on internet communities.

-…Despite Stern’s chairman apologizing and resigning through a press conference, animosity toward Stern shows no signs of diminishing. Not only domestically but also abroad, protests involving burning or damaging Stern Corporation vehicles are occurring in front of various Stern branches….

Even on the news I had turned on to check how the general public was reacting, most of the story had already been exposed.

No matter how the world has changed, there’s a minimum ethical line that shouldn’t be crossed.

Mana powder directly crosses that ethical line, which is why no one dares to touch it.

‘In the original story, the protagonist immediately stopped when he heard how much the main character hated it.’

In the original story, Ermina, after falling for the protagonist in volume 1…

She never openly mentioned consuming mana powder.

But in this world, Ermina will no longer have a chance to try to win the protagonist’s favor, and she probably won’t be able to show her face in public anymore.

The original story has changed.

Whether due to my influence or Ymir’s.

Now that I’m no longer a pathetic F-rank evil organization underling Goblin, but a new entity, the major flow of the original story has been overturned.

The protagonist was male.

So I tried to kill him.

But the protagonist is female.

Does that mean I must kill the protagonist no matter what?

“…No.”

I headed to the bathroom for a shower.

After completely undressing, I enjoyed the water falling from above, running my fingers through my hair in the shower booth.

“…If the genre has changed, I need to adapt to the new genre.”

The fundamental reason I tried to kill the protagonist was to prevent the end of the world.

To protect a world where the Supreme Leader would rule and unify this wretched world under one ideology, I sought to eliminate the being who posed a risk of destroying the world.

To prevent the meteor ending, I tried to deal with the protagonist in the easiest way possible.

That was because his mental state had deteriorated.

But if it’s a woman, that’s different.

Unlike a man, if it’s a woman, I can somehow take care of her mental state by staying by her side.

-Brother Jihwan, do you really want to see me go crazy?

Some might say women are harder to deal with?

That men are easier to care for?

-Jihwan hyung, do you really want to see me lose my mind?

…If that happened, I might end up looking for ways to make the meteor fall.

“I’m a man, and she’s a woman, so it can’t be helped.”

Sorry to the original protagonist, but this is inevitable.

“All of this is to protect the world that the Supreme Leader will rule.”

Because Ymir is a woman.

“I’ll keep Ymir by my side and take care of her exclusively.”

A woman.

The heroine.

‘To protect this world, this Earth, I’ll become a trashy scumbag.’

Making her a mother might also be a way to prevent the world’s destruction.

Yes.

That is the path of a villain, a Goblin.