Chapter 41: The Mastermind, and the Back Alleys – 1

Chapter 41: The Mastermind, and the Back Alleys – 1

“Lucia, what do you think about the drug addicts in the back alleys?”

“……I believe I was the one who asked the question?”

“So prickly. This is also part of my answer, so please answer honestly?”

With those words, Elena’s eyes curved into a smile.

There was hardly any description of Elena in the novel, but those curved eyes were depicted perfectly.

It said, ‘Her eyes and mouth curve alluringly when she likes something or wants to be with someone.’

She probably made that exact expression when she saw the protagonist.

“Well. I guess they do what they do because they have no other way to make a living.”

“Really? Even though it’s clearly an absolute ‘evil’?”

“If they were people with enough leeway to consider such things, they wouldn’t have done such work in the first place. Those people are just trying to live properly.”

“Interesting. It certainly seems far removed from the thoughts of a healthy, ordinary citizen.”

Saying that, Elena let out her characteristic gloomy chuckle again.

…Actually, ‘gloomy’ is a prejudice born from knowing Elena’s true identity; ‘small and quiet laughter’ might be a more fitting description.

If a third party saw it, it would probably just look like a quiet and elegant smile.

“I’ve heard your thoughts well. Fortunately, I don’t need to twist my answer to your question.”

“……What was that ominous remark?”

And suddenly, Elena leaned in close.

A faint, yet sharp floral scent wafted over.

Along with a subtly weakening low, beautiful voice.

“You see, I want them to disappear. Specifically, all the addicts and all the drug peddlers who sell to them.

 Oh, don’t misunderstand? I’m just doing what I need to do to live, too.”

“What the…!”

However, a finger immediately blocked my mouth.

When I looked at Elena with eyes full of protest… she also gazed back at me.

“Shhh. This isn’t something to talk about loudly, is it? If you think about it, you betrayed me first.”

“And you talk about killing people so casually?”

“I wasn’t exactly planning to kill them, but does our Lucia prefer that kind of thing?”

“Stop joking! Why are you doing this in the first place?”

“The beginning of all calamities is the mouth, so before that mouth opens, I’m kindly trying to shut it. More precisely, ‘we’ are.”

Dangerous. This was truly a dangerous situation.

Although I was speaking quietly as Elena suggested, I desperately wanted to report her to Christie right now.

Elena was speaking in circles, but it was easy to infer.

This was a gag order.

I didn’t know how Elena and the ‘organization’ were connected.

I didn’t know her relationship with the nobles who dealt with that ‘organization’ either.

But… it was clear that they had at least found something Elena needed to keep hidden, and Elena was trying to silence it.

And, the fact that she was telling me this……

“So, our Lucia. Will you grant an old customer a favor?”

“…Whatever you want me to make, I can’t.”

“Well, I don’t think you’re foolish enough to be unable to make something you’ve already made once before, do I?

 Or does one have to be Defense Force Commander-level to request custom orders?”

……I’d been had.

Elena had already known before she came.

Everything, even that I had decided to help Christie.

“Don’t make such a scared expression, it hurts my feelings.”

“…If someone who pries into other people’s private lives like that isn’t scary, what should be scary?”

“I didn’t want to, but my subordinates are just too capable. From now on, I’ll make sure you’re specially not caught up in this kind of ‘investigation.’

 Of course… if you accept my request.”

Saying that, Elena smiled sweetly, looking literally normal.

It was a talent, I thought, to be able to say such chilling words with such a normal face.

“But, if this happens, helping the Defense Force Commander will also be a problem….”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that part. In fact, I can help you.

 Anyway, I have to take care of those drug peddlers too, so if the Defense Force kindly does it, I’d be grateful.”

“If I really help you, will there be no hindrance to this operation?”

“Of course. In fact… I can even fill in the loopholes in that operation. Enough to make it the most successful operation the Defense Force has ever had.”

I thought I had been had already, but this wasn’t even being had in the first place.

Immediately after meeting Christie, I had already become part of Elena’s plan.

It was an intelligence network that went beyond fear, to awe, and from awe, even to the stage of acceptance.

At this point, what Elena’s real name and identity were, what her true purpose was for creating such a group……

Only questions increased.

“So, Lucia. Your answer?”

“……Don’t talk as if I have a choice. It’s pathetic.”

“Pfft. You truly are a delightful child, Lucia. You’re capable, and even clever.”

“However, I also have a condition.”

But, pushing all those questions aside, I decided to focus on reality.

I… had a promise I needed to get from Elena.

A promise with no binding force, no compulsion, a promise that would lose its effect if Elena lied… yet a promise that needed to be explicitly received.

“What would that be? Oh, if it’s about compensation, I’ll take good care of you. You’ve always been subtly sensitive about that.”

“…I have no intention of becoming a pawn in your game, Elena.”

“Hmm?”

“I admit that you possess astonishing intelligence and can skillfully set the stage. I also promise that this time, I will move as your loyal pawn on that stage.

 But…… not anymore. I am not your pawn, nor do I intend to live like that.

 So promise me. If you want to use me in the future… do it properly. Don’t deceive me by creating situations where I can’t refuse like this.

 Especially, if you threaten me like this again by using people around me, I will resist in my own way.

 So, in the future, when you undertake such big endeavors, don’t use this kind of deception. Oh, and if possible, I’d prefer you not to seek me out at all.”

I had already promised to help Christie, and if I refused Elena’s offer here, it was obvious that Christie would be in trouble, even if I was safe.

Therefore, I had no choice.

No matter how much I wanted to stop being involved with the main characters and live peacefully, some things just weren’t right.

If I didn’t accept the offer, someone’s life would be screwed. Conversely, if I accepted the offer, it would end with me being used a little.

In this situation… I’m not brave enough to stubbornly refuse to be used. 

That’s why I had no choice but to accept Elena’s ‘request.’

But, no more.

If I kept being used by Elena like this, I would eventually be no different from being part of Elena’s mastermind group that overthrows the world.

Therefore, this was a warning, and a desperate struggle.

A desperate struggle because there was nothing else I could do.

“Still interesting, Lucia. But to correct you…”

Saying that, Elena moved away from me again.

On my clothes, which she briefly touched as she moved away, there was a badge, I didn’t know when it had been attached.

“I’ve never thought of you as a pawn. I’ve always thought of you as someone who will be ‘us’ in the future.”

“…Is that why you’re telling me all this in such detail?”

“That’s part of it. It’s easier to take you with me later if I start telling you now, isn’t it?”

“I don’t even know what ‘us’ is, or what ‘we’ do in the first place?”

“I told you. ‘Us’ in the future. It’s not complete yet. And… unfortunately, I think we have to part ways here today?”

I wanted to ask what she meant, but Elena moved faster.

The only thing I could do was quietly stare at the spot where Elena had vanished in an instant.

Along with the thought of what kind of character Elena truly was.

***

*Looks like you’re completely screwed, huh? It seems the mastermind’s leader has her eyes on you.*

“Yeah, I’m screwed. I wonder why she’s doing this to me.”

*Beats me? Of course, I know, but.*

“……Do you want to die?”

*It’s no use even if I tell you, it’ll all be censored anyway.*

The System, annoying as ever.

…Paradoxically, its usual behavior made me feel a little more at ease.

*Still, for your anxious self, a little spoiler…

 You could say this incident was an unavoidable, fated screw-up? Just that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to avoid such things and live a ‘peaceful daily life’ in the future?*

“Yeah, yeah. That’s really comforting. I guess I just have to take these kinds of screw-ups.”

*That’s right. Elena can’t always read your every move, and one of her strongest weapons, ‘mind-reading,’ doesn’t work on you.

 By the way, what are you going to do now?*

At the System’s question, which was a spoiler that could be either comforting or teasing, I thought for a moment.

I was currently on my way home from buying groceries at the market.

Although I was forced into participating in a mastermind’s screw-up plan, that didn’t mean the genre of my life was changing.

Daily life, healing, and… perhaps I couldn’t change my routine of potion crafting!

Anyway, even if I thought about how to counter Elena right now… the only thought that came to mind was to live well and make strong enough potions to beat Elena.

I was dropped into a novel world, not given the ability to read the future.

…Of course, there was the System next to me, which was presumed to read the future, but.

“Because of Elena, it felt like the genre of my life changed for a moment… but since I bought proper ingredients for the first time, I should try cooking.”

*That’s unexpected? Usually, at this point, wouldn’t people be panicking about preparing for Elena?*

“There’s nothing I can do, so what. My goal is to live happily in the first place. I won’t forget the threat of Elena,

 But I don’t want to needlessly abandon my small, immediate happiness by preparing for it.”

*Well… that’s kind of cool, too.*

“So, for now, let’s enjoy the present daily life. This is the life I want to live again.”

Saying that, I looked up at the sky for the first time in a while.

Instead of a familiar hospital ceiling, a clear sky stretched out.

It was a clear sky and a good day that I felt with my whole body for a truly long time.

It was spring, warm and with new life blooming.

……It was then that I remembered I had potion money to collect from Elena.

…This is why you should always get paid for goods right away.