When Five Humans Gather, There’s Always One Piece of Trash(4)

Duke Imptia’s head falls as the sword is swung so quickly that not even blood can stain it.

Morgan, who had been watching the fallen head roll and collide with the head of the hitman he had thrown earlier, inhaled the blood scent filling the room deep into her lungs and said:

“Ah, doing a killing after so long makes me feel alive. It feels like my heart is beating again…”

It truly feels like I’m alive after swinging my sword after such a long time.

Sniff── Exhale──

“Stop that and get ready to leave. I’m going to blow up the mansion.”

“Alright, got it.”

Morgan was about to stretch her back and look around the room to savor that feeling a bit more, but she had to give it up at Isolde’s words from behind.

Isolde urged in a bored voice, as if wanting to hurry out of this space.

Turning her head, Morgan saw numerous papers floating behind Isolde, who was riding her staff, lifted by magic.

“…Don’t tell me all of those are documents related to corruption?”

“Yes. Things that would likely get him immediately stripped of his position and sentenced to death if discovered by the higher-ups. I was told to just get the moderately bad ones, but the results were beyond imagination.”

The orders Meiyel, or more precisely Aria who had gone to meet the king, had passed on through Mu were two:

One was to look for documents related to Duke Imptia’s corruption.

Two was to immediately knock out and remove only the innocent servants in the mansion upon discovering such documents, and kill everyone else.

It was an order Aria had given, knowing in advance through the Pope’s information network that Duke Imptia was involved in various dirty deeds.

It was essentially a no-loss task since they could infiltrate and leave without being detected by anyone, so if they found anything they could kill, and if not, they could look for other methods.

And after Morgan infiltrated the mansion’s office with Isolde’s transfer magic and heard her say she had found documents related to corruption, she immediately went about cleaning up the trash in the mansion, but she didn’t expect the corruption-related documents Isolde said she found to be so numerous.

“This is amazing. And you say it’s enough to warrant execution? What on earth was written in them?”

What on earth could have been written to warrant talk of execution? Morgan asked Isolde, unable to contain her curiosity, and the answer that came back was quite extraordinary.

“Plans to overthrow the current king and seize the royal authority. It was well hidden in a safe, but easy to extract. Besides that, it seems he had hitmen kill those who became obstacles. Those guys you killed over there.”

“Ah, I couldn’t tell because these humans were so weak, but they were hitmen? More importantly, usurping the throne is certainly worthy of execution, isn’t it?”

She thought he had quite overflowing ambition and dirty eyes, but to think he was actually aiming for the current king’s seat.

It was truly something that would not only cover up killing Duke Imptia if the human higher-ups found out, but even warrant a reward.

At this, Morgan let out a low laugh and muttered with an amused face.

“This should satisfy our master. It’s really good that a legal reason to kill has come up.”

“It’s certainly irrefutable evidence. With just this, there shouldn’t be any problem with that guy getting punished, so that’s fortunate.”

“…Fortunate?”

Morgan, who had just been saying how lucky Aria was, instantly scattered the smile she had been wearing at Isolde’s words.

As Morgan’s continuous laughter suddenly cut off, a silence as cold and heavy as eternal snow circled the room.

Feeling something strange, Isolde turned her head expressionlessly to look at Morgan, and when their eyes met, Morgan, who had been chewing on Isolde’s words, opened her mouth.

“Isolde, are you seriously trying to follow that guy?”

“…What do you mean?”

“That ‘fortunate’ you just said… It sounded like you were genuinely worried about that guy.”

Are you really sincerely worried?

At Morgan’s questioning words, Isolde unconsciously closed her mouth.

As Isolde was usually quick-witted, it wasn’t difficult for her to grasp what Morgan’s words just now implied.

What Morgan asked Isolde was simple.

Are you really following Aria with all your heart? Even if you were defeated by her and made a contract, are you loyal to her in your heart as well?

And to go a little further:

‘You mean to ask if I’ve put her in the Demon King’s place, right?’

Having inwardly unraveled the meaning of Morgan’s words, Isolde opened her eyes that she had closed for a moment to think.

Numerous words were raging in her head, but they couldn’t be simply listed as sentences.

Whether it was because of Morgan’s eyes pressing her or because of her own lack of vocabulary, she didn’t know, but at least she could easily tell which way all these chaotically raging words in her head were leaning.

To be more precise, because she even knew the reason for leaning that way, Isolde soon ended her long thoughts and spoke the organized sentence out loud.

“Morgan, why do you think we were pledging loyalty to the Demon King?”

“What? Of course it’s because we respect the Demon King…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way that’s true.”

Seeing Morgan’s appearance just now asking about loyalty to the Demon King, Isolde had wondered if perhaps, but it seemed that perhaps was correct after all.

Well, even she as a mage had barely understood it, so there was no way Morgan as a warrior would properly know, let alone grasp it.

Why do demons pledge loyalty to the bone to the Demon King?

The reason was simply because they were born as demons. To explain it simply, just as demons are born with the desire to exterminate other races, they consider following the Demon King as natural.

And when Aria removed the demon race factor, Isolde realized that the loyalty she had been pledging to the Demon King until now was solely due to the demon factor.

She could understand with her head that along with the desire to exterminate other races, her loyalty to the Demon King had also disappeared.

However, the current Morgan seemed to have not yet realized that her loyalty to the Demon King had disappeared, as it had been ingrained in her body for hundreds of years.

‘Or perhaps…’

There was also the possibility that real loyalty had grown somewhere in her heart after pledging loyalty to the Demon King for hundreds of years, but Isolde immediately excluded that possibility in her mind.

It didn’t make sense for the Morgan she had seen over the past time to pledge loyalty to anyone.

To begin with, Morgan was someone who had probably never felt the emotion of respect in her life, so there was no way she had respected even the Demon King.

And at Isolde’s words that the loyalty until now had been due to the demon factor, Morgan was steaming from her head with a confused face.

“But still, I had some loyalty in my own way…”

Seeing her struggling with her head that she usually never used except for fighting, Isolde let out a small sigh and hammered to firmly fix the confused Morgan.

“Morgan, don’t you just need your life intact like me? If so, I think it’s strange not to sincerely deal with Aria. You heard the story she told us last time, right?”

“Ah, that’s certainly…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The story Aria had told a few days ago.

It was the story where she showed the names and faces of dozens of students at the academy and introduced them as becoming stronger than her in about 5 years.

It was a terrifying story that was still hard to believe, but along with the demon factor theory, it became the catalyst for Isolde to be able to devote herself loyally to Aria.

“In 5 years, it’s when the war was originally supposed to break out. If so many humans with strength like Aria’s are born, demons have no chance of winning.”

“We would definitely lose. Overwhelmingly so…”

“That’s right. So I’m going to stand on the winner’s side. Of course, not on the human side, but on Aria’s side.”

“That’s right. Yeah… Sorry, Isolde. I just asked a stupid question.”

Morgan had also heard this story with her. Then it should already be clear who would win the war in 5 years.

And having heard the story about the demon factor being the source of loyalty, which was still hard to believe but true, it was natural for Morgan to apologize.

“Certainly, my life comes first for me too. I need to live and fight strong ones until I die.”

Morgan, no different from Isolde, valued her own life above all else.

Therefore, Morgan apologized for needlessly pressing Isolde with useless questions just now, and in the end, after the atmosphere had only briefly become serious, Isolde got off her staff at the end of this small commotion.

“If you understand, that’s fine. Let’s get out of the mansion for now. According to orders, we need to destroy the mansion too.”

“Hm? What about the bodies?”

“We’ll move the bodies too. We need the bodies to prove to the human soldiers that we really killed them.”

If we just place them next to the collapsed mansion ruins, even humans with narrower vision compared to demons should be able to find them.

Isolde waved her staff to create transfer magic circles under herself, Morgan, and the now-corpses of the hitmen and Duke Imptia.

The transfer magic circles were set with destinations in the sky above the mansion and their room in the temple respectively.

“Alright, then I’ll destroy it.”

And the next moment, as Isolde brought down her staff, a massive explosion swallowed up the mansion.

『Earth Explosion』

---

When I returned to the temple after parting ways with Haran and Arin who had walked with me from the palace, Morgan and Isolde, who had returned first, were waiting for me.

“You’re back already. You’re quick at handling tasks.”

“You’re finally here.”

“We’ve cleaned up the mansion. Here are the evidence documents.”

I certainly would have given the order through Mu about an hour ago, but to think they had already finished and returned.

While marveling at their quick work, I looked at the papers Isolde was showing behind her back, calling them evidence.

Papers wrapped in a huge bundle. No matter how I looked at it, there seemed to be easily over 300 sheets.

“Here.”

“I’ll take it…”

As Isolde threw the papers towards us with her magic, Mu received them while changing Isolde’s magic to her own.

Perhaps displeased that her magic was dominated, Isolde slightly frowned, but she soon smoothed her expression and answered my following question.

“Seeing that you brought evidence, it seems there are quite unfavorable things written. What’s the content?”

“Bribery, contract killings, brainwashing requests, improper methods to persuade you, and so on. But the biggest one is documents about usurping the throne.”

“Usurping the throne?”

At Isolde’s words, I, Mu beside me, and the Pope and Pina standing behind them all widened our eyes in surprise.

The first four things Isolde mentioned were already enough to kill Duke Imptia, but to think he was even plotting to usurp the throne.

Holding back the laugh that was about to burst out involuntarily, I pulled out one of the papers Mu was floating.

A paper with similar content that appeared as I quickly skimmed through.

And looking at it directly proved that what Isolde said was true, as the paper had a meticulous plan for usurping the throne and Duke Imptia’s personal seal clearly stamped on it.

“Ha, it’s hard to believe, but it’s real.”

“Of course. I don’t lie to you. I can’t because of the contract anyway.”

“Right, well done. You’ve brought truly excellent results.”

Results beyond expectations. I praised Isolde who had found and brought such evidence that I could only describe as such.

With this level of evidence, I could confidently tell Mira, who would be having a headache in the dean’s office tomorrow over the fact that Duke Imptia had been murdered, so how could I not praise her?

I looked through a few more papers for a moment, then put them back in the bundle and ordered Mu.

“Mu, move all these documents to my room. Especially sort out the documents related to usurping the throne that I just mentioned in advance.”

“Yes, Mother…”

Mu flew into the temple with the floating documents upon hearing my words.

Watching her retreating figure, I climbed the temple steps and stood next to Morgan and Isolde.

Then I unconsciously tried to pat their heads, but quickly lowered my hand.

Judging from Isolde’s case last time, it seemed demons disliked this form of praise, so instead of patting their heads, I raised my hand to fold my arms.

“Good work, both of you.”

“It’s nothing. Rather, I enjoyed being able to kill humans.”

“I had fun too, so I don’t mind.”

“I see. Both of you go in and rest. You should get some rest since you’ll be starting proper academy life from tomorrow.”

As I’m not stingy with praise, I generously praised the two for properly completing their first order, then passed by them and entered the temple.

Of course, with the Pope and Pina following hurriedly beside me, asking about the content of the throne usurpation they had just heard, as a bonus.

It seems I’ll be able to sleep with my legs stretched out towards the collapsed Duke Imptia’s mansion tonight.

---

In the very deep sea.

Where even sunlight cannot reach, and magical light replaces it, there stood a library.

A library so white and bright that it could be said to rival the sun itself, dazzling to the eyes.

And inside that library filled entirely with pure white, a woman in neat attire rose from her seat.

Perhaps because she had been sitting for hundreds of years, when the woman stood up, the chair supporting her body collapsed, but she paid no attention and moved her feet to the center of the library.

Click── Click──

Though it was a library that hadn’t been cleaned for hundreds of years as she had just been sitting still, not a speck of dust existed in the library.

Therefore, the woman answered the noble voice echoing inside the library and opened a book located in the center she had reached.

The one and only book this library keeps.

A book that records all the stories of this world.

When she opened that book, it was filled with countless letters. Letters packed tightly without a single gap.

And while this should have been the case for all pages of the book, looking at the last five blank pages the woman had opened, she said:

“Is it here? Lady Iriel.”

[Yes, that’s the place. Please fill in the story there.]

In the empty library, an answer to the woman’s question returns.

Fill in the blank pages. At that cryptic instruction, the woman grasped the quill pen placed next to the book and asked once more.

“What kind of story should I fill in?”

[The story that man has been telling.]

At the answer, countless phrases flash through the woman’s mind.

More precisely, the story a certain man had shown so far entered the woman’s mind in the form of text.

When the woman regained her senses after momentarily feeling dizzy from the vast amount of story, new stories were written where there had been blank pages.

Perhaps the only difference was that it was written in red letters, unlike the black letters on other pages?

The red-lettered story was soon a story that only those qualified could read.

Only important stories that should not be easily spread to the world, not useless stories of ordinary lives, were written in such red letters.

Until now, there had been only two pages of red-lettered stories in the book.

The woman was surprised for a moment that the story she had just written was in red letters, then murmured the names of the story’s owners written there.

“Aria, Yujia, Kama, Meiyel, Yeonhwa… is it.”

The five irregulars that the goddess Iriel had brought into this world. The woman was very curious about the pages containing their stories, but she soon closed the open book and returned to her seat.

“I am merely Lady Iriel’s doll. A tool that only carries out orders.”

She was just a lifeless homunculus.

Because Lady Iriel had determined it so, the woman created a new chair on top of the broken one and sat down.

Hoping that those who can read that story will appear.