Chap 41-Ailia, It’s You Again?

 

What are you glaring at?

Considering you’re all criminals.

“You wench!”

“Or what? Seems your grand cause is only worth this much?”

Ciel nonchalantly said something that would make the Latin Commune members foam at the mouth.

That their precious cause was only worth this much.

A noble’s remark that disregarded them, who were working hard to liberate commoners, the poor, and the working class suffering from armed struggle.

Naturally, upon hearing this, the Latin Commune members, forgetting their earlier fear, began to rage.

“We won’t let you get away with this!”

“How dare you mock us!”

“What would a noble brat like you know!”

Thanks to Arietta and Riel, who were quietly observing the situation, the Latin Commune’s attention was solely focused on Ciel.

Yagoda knew what Ciel was aiming for.

To exclude the other two and make them focus only on herself.

“Wouldn’t it be wise to be careful? Especially since you can’t even recognize this.”

Ciel continued to flick her fingers, mocking Yagoda and the remaining Latin Commune members.

Although the threads were invisible, the blood of their comrades moving in the air clearly proved that the threads were still present.

And that Ciel’s mocking laughter.

It was enough to make anyone seethe with anger. Forgetting their previous resentment, the members charged at the three women.

‘No, it can’t be! It shouldn’t be!’

He had to stop them, but his feet wouldn’t move easily.

After all, he didn’t know where or how those threads were spread.

It was a truly dangerous situation all around.

Swish!

Once again, a bloody storm blew.

With a brief sound of air slicing through, two or three more members who had ignored the warnings and charged were beheaded.

As their heads rolled, they stared blankly at their separated bodies before dying.

There were even individuals here who had subdued instructors with a surprise attack. Yet, such individuals were taken down in an instant.

Shouldn’t we just retreat?

No, that’s not right.

As I thought just now, that damned woman has spread threads everywhere.

That means she’s still manipulating them freely. But we can’t abandon the spark of revolution here.

Since it has come to this, we must fight to the death.

No matter how powerful the threads are, they can only catch humans or goblins, beings with relatively soft flesh.

After all, I don’t know what theory can produce such threads. But threads produced with such delicate work must quickly deplete mana.

She’s probably just putting on a brave face, pretending to be fine.

If so, we must also take a strong stance.

I didn’t know the medicine I brought just in case would be helpful. To be honest, I never expected to use it in a situation like this.

It was called a physical enhancement drug.

-If you drink this, you can use strength beyond your limits for a very short time. However, you must risk your life.

It was a drug handed over by one of the Commune executives who delivered instructions from the great leader.

On the surface, it looked like it contained dirty water, but it was definitely not an ordinary object.

It was an object that radiated intense power.

That Bathory woman seemed to know what this substance was.

Judging by her hardening face, it must be an unpleasant object for that damned noble.

If so, all the better.

I can’t bear to see a smile on that noble’s face.

“Hoo. That is…”

“Too late! Let’s end this!”

Gulp, gulp.

Yagoda drank it.

The taste wasn’t great, to be honest. It was just sticky and thick, and as it went down his throat, it felt cold at first, but soon something hot filled his throat.

And that. This unknown substance began to spread throughout his body.

This black water spreading throughout his body created changes in him.

His muscles began to swell, his skin turned black, and the clothes he was wearing tore.

“So, I see your precious cause involves collaborating with demons.”

“Keuk. Cough. Keheok.”

As the changes occurred throughout his body, his flesh tore and his bones thickened, and his body continued to change.

“While nobles provide war expenses and send troops to fight the Demon King’s Army, the enemy of humanity, protecting the poor and workers you so desperately want to save, you are collaborating with that enemy of humanity, only fueling chaos in the Empire.”

Ciel stared at Yagoda with eyes of genuine disappointment, with a gaze that looked upon something truly pitiful and pathetic.

Yagoda wanted to refute her, but he couldn’t speak.

The changes in his body. That was the extent of it. His human reason was disappearing, and before he knew it, his ability to speak had also vanished.

Yagoda was now merely a rampaging demon.

To be precise, a demon.

“Th-that’s a demon?”

“Yes, it’s a demon.”

“Wh-what do we do?”

Arietta and Riel made a fuss.

Although this place was on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, the appearance of a demon. What this meant was that Schperen was also exposed to demon attacks.

“Shouldn’t we have killed him before he transformed?”

“We must kill him after he transforms. That way, we can leave definite proof that he was a demon.”

Yagoda couldn’t understand what they were saying anymore.

Because he was now just a demon.

Judging by their serious faces, that seemed to be the end of it.

All he did was move instinctively, driven by violent desires and hatred for humans.

That was all.

Only hatred for humans. Added to that was the hatred he had harbored as a human, defining nobles and the imperial family as enemies of the revolution.

Although he was moving according to instinct, Yagoda’s will remained to some extent.

The faintly remaining will of Yagoda was shouting that he must kill them all, at least.

Kill them and make them sacrifices for the revolution. No, at least those who were threatening as enemies of this revolution had to be killed.

That was all he could think about.

With this body, he could definitely do it. That’s what he thought, but the Bathory woman, who had a hardened face until just now, looked at Yagoda with a twisted face, with a gaze that looked at something seriously filthy.

“You pathetic bastard. Do you still think your cause is noble even now?”

“Guaaaaaaaah!”

The final provocation.

Yagoda’s will was fiercely enraged by that statement.

To ignore them, who were fighting for the liberation of the revolution’s enemies and workers.

Enemy of humanity? Anyway, that’s not a problem because there’s a Hero!

Is it a good thing to push the entire nation into a crucible of war under the pretext of fighting the Demon King!

The ego of the human Yagoda, who had been submerged in the demon’s instincts, struggled and barely surfaced.

“You guys’ thoughts are obvious. Even if the Empire is overthrown, the fight against the Demon King will be no problem. Because the Hero can just fight. The workers. The people of the liberated world will defend against the Demon King’s invasion with one heart and one mind. You’re just spouting ideals and causing chaos.”

Even after seeing the demon’s appearance, that noble Bathory woman stomped her feet and nonchalantly ignored the Latin Commune.

Shut up.

“But you know what? That’s just an ideal. It’s an ideal of ignorant people.”

Shut up.

“You know what? You’re going to confiscate and distribute the assets of the vested interests and capitalists, but will that process really be clean?”

Shut up. Shut up.

“You know what? You call it liberation, but in the end, the workers will be enslaved to the system you created. Can that be called liberation?”

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

“You’ve stirred up the people and seized power, but you’ll only let the workers taste that sense of liberation and divide the confiscated assets among yourselves. In the process, you’ll purge a large number of intellectuals who get in the way. Do you know what will be left?”

Shut up.

“Only truly pure, simple-minded people will be left, and you’ll have the justification of a workers’ country, so you can achieve a dictatorship more perfect than a monarchy.”

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!

“Well, what would an ignorant guy like you know? It’ll just hurt my mouth to say the same thing when your master’s head is cut off later. No, does your master even know? He’s just trying to use you guys.”

“Shut uuuuuup!”

I can’t listen to any more of these outrageous words.

So Yagoda ran.

All I have to do is kill them right away. Anyway, the threads are meaningless now.

“Maybe you thought that if you drank that potion, you could stop the threads I released with the changed body, with strength, whether you became a demon or whatever. But you see.”

Ciel flicked her fingers again.

Numerous. Dazzling lines of light flew through the air.

Yagoda saw it for a moment.

When he was a child, his parents used to tell him stories when he went to bed.

The Milky Way, a sea of flowing stars. Yagoda had only seen it in books or illustrations, but that Milky Way. Unfolded before his eyes.

Made of countless threads. Those threads that shone brilliantly.

Becoming a sea of stars in this space that was not even the universe, blocking Yagoda.

But he couldn’t see it anymore.

Swoosh!

Yagoda jumped into that sea of stars and was wonderfully annihilated.

As his entire body was cut into cube steaks, only one word echoed in Yagoda’s ears.

“You will be recorded in history as the Demon King’s lackeys.”

Already torn to pieces, he couldn’t refute her.

With Ciel’s words, Yagoda’s consciousness sank into the lake of brilliant starlight.

In front of me was a pile of finely chopped meat.

It was the guy who was called Yagoda until just now.

He burned alone, charged alone, and became a cube alone.

“What is this? You said you’d keep them alive?”

“Two are still alive, aren’t they?”

“I don’t know if you can call that alive.”

There were some who had their arms or legs cut off and were just flailing around.

I guess they’ll die from excessive bleeding soon.

Anyway, I didn’t intend to bother saving such guys one by one.

For some reason, this guy is frowning, thinking I’m going to interrogate him.

“Even if you kill me, I won’t say anything!”

“Okay.”

I killed one guy because he said he wouldn’t say anything. The other guy seemed surprised, but he wouldn’t say anything.

“You won’t say anything either, but.”

It doesn’t matter if you don’t say anything.

I stuck a few [Mana Thread] into this foolish rebel’s head.

I’m going to plug it directly into his brain and look into his memories.

There wasn’t a big harvest as expected, but I could see where these guys planned this, and how it was done.

“These guys were in the slums. They just heard the news that the princess was going on an exercise, so they planned this. They also received instructions from above to capture the princess. If they couldn’t capture her, they were told to kill her.”

“H-how did you…”

The problem is that the information that she was going on an exercise got into the slums.

I don’t know where this started, but what’s certain is that a student from Schperen spread it.

There’s a high probability that it’s that damned Ailia or Kailon.

It’s probably Ailia, who was ignored a while ago.