Assault (2)

Assault (2)

‘… If I called for Deren as desperately as that, would Deren come for me?’

Rumi blankly recalled what had happened earlier and slumped over her desk.

She thought that the Deren she had known so far would probably come running even while showing signs of dislike.

But contrary to that judgment, a part of her mind thought ‘he might ignore and not come’.

‘After all, I’m just a burden to Deren with no particular value or help.’

This wasn’t just the usual self-deprecation, but a conclusion reached when objectively looking at herself.

The more she got involved with the Heaven God Cult, and the more harm Deren suffered from them, the more clearly this fact became apparent.

‘If only I wasn’t here… Deren wouldn’t have had to go through this.’

So while she was grateful to Deren for helping her, she was also restless with anxiety that he might get tired of her and abandon her someday.

Someone calls out to me and I feel them carefully sitting down beside me.

“… Can we talk for a moment?”

At the mention of talking, I couldn’t help but flinch momentarily.

Recently, Deren has been protecting me so it’s gone away, but in the past, there were often cases where people would call me like this and then pick fights or use violence for no reason.

The fear I felt in the past resurfaced, sending chills throughout my body.

‘……’

So, as I raised my body in a somewhat frightened state, an unexpected face came into view.

‘Senior Espin?’

The competitor who had taken Deren away earlier, and a senior who had recently become uncomfortably close with Deren.

I don’t know exactly what kind of person they are since I don’t have anyone to talk to and haven’t heard proper rumors.

But from what I’ve overheard in the hallways, they’re said to be an extremely dangerous and impressive person, which makes me feel small.

“W-What is it?”

I tried to speak as confidently as possible.

But perhaps due to the ingrained fear, I ended up stuttering momentarily.

Feeling quite embarrassed about that, I was clutching my skirt tightly and shrinking when.

“Can you guide me to the Lercier Family?”

I heard something completely unexpected.

“P-Pardon?”

I pretended not to hear to ask for the reason, but.

Senior Espin, seemingly not wanting to give a detailed explanation, just looked at me and repeated what they had said earlier.

“Guide me to the Lercier Family. Deren said to ask you.”

“… Ah, I understand.”

To be honest, there were so many things I wanted to ask and was curious about.

But seeing Senior Espin’s eyes slightly swollen, I had to keep my mouth shut.

… No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like he was going to the Lercier Family for a good reason.

“Then I’ll ask you after the next lecture ends, during lunch time… It’s quite urgent.”

“Yes, yes.”

With those final words, Senior Espin left the classroom and went somewhere.

As I watched this absentmindedly, I felt a strange tightness in a corner of my heart and gripped my quill pen tightly.

*

As promised, when the next lecture ended, Senior Espin came to find me and asked me to guide him to the ‘Lercier Family’.

Since it was lunchtime anyway, I thought it wouldn’t be a problem as we had some time to spare, so I nodded.

Senior Espin approached me, showing a faint sense of relief.

“Then let’s depart right away…”

Recalling Senior Espin’s words about it being urgent, I was heading towards the Lercier Family’s main house with somewhat quick steps.

In the hallway, a female student with narrowed eyes approached me and Senior Espin with a smile full of laughter.

“Oh my… Rumi, your complexion has improved so much compared to before. I guess you’ve been eating well lately?”

If you only heard the content of the conversation, it seemed like a harmless greeting.

The problem here is that the female student speaking to me was someone I had never seen before.

I tried to ignore and pass by this rather bewildering remark.

But before that, the female student grabbed my wrist and whispered softly.

“You’ve become quite arrogant. When you were in the cult, you couldn’t even lift your face.”

A terrible sensation spreads throughout my body as if bugs are crawling all over, and nausea rises.

As I turn my gaze to ask how she knows such things.

The female student continued with a mocking expression.

“I know that the cult is too busy to bother with you and Deren right now. But you know that if the cult wanted to, they could get rid of you or Deren at any moment, right?”

Perhaps because I’ve grown up witnessing the actions of the Heaven God Cult and how powerful they are since childhood.

Even though it’s just a verbal threat, an overwhelming anxiety comes over me as if a huge boulder is about to fall from above.

As I stand frozen, unable to do anything in this situation, the female student continues speaking with a smile still on her face.

“If you don’t want Deren to get hurt, you should think about coming back soon. Otherwise, the high priests might really get angry and who knows what they’ll do.”

As my mind starts to go blank at the mention of high priests.

Senior Espin, who had been following behind, calmly speaks up while grabbing my wrist.

“Get lost.”

“… What?”

“I said get lost. Can’t you hear?”

Then, glaring at the female student as if to kill her, he spoke coldly.

He took out his magic book and said.

“I don’t know who you are, but if you open that mouth one more time, I’m planning to tear you apart. You’d better leave while I’m still being nice.”

At those words, the female student seemed about to lunge forward angrily.

But upon seeing Senior Espin’s appearance, she seemed to realize this wasn’t a good idea, and bit her lip before running away as if fleeing.

Seeing this, Senior Espin turned his gaze and said to me.

“… Let’s ignore it and go. Those kinds of people aren’t even worth paying attention to.”

I nodded and was about to slowly move my feet.

The words I had heard earlier kept echoing in my mind.

[If you don’t want to harm Deren, you should start heading back soon, right?]

A strange sensation, as if piercing my heart with a sharp awl.

Now that the problem I had been trying to ignore was openly discussed.

My emotions were unusually easy to stir, and my mind became complicated.

‘I guess even to others… I must look like I’m being a nuisance?’

No, there’s no need for others to see it.

Even to myself, I was nothing more than an obstacle blocking Deren’s life, beyond just being a nuisance.

That’s why the words I heard earlier about returning kept circling in my mind.

‘… If only I weren’t here.’

Maybe everything would fall into place if I were gone.

While thinking this, someone lightly patted my back and said.

“Don’t worry about what that guy said earlier. It seems like he was clearly trying to confuse you.”

“… Yes.”

“If you fall for words like that, you’re only doing the Heaven God Cult a favor. Just ignore it and do what you usually do.”

That somewhat reassuring tone.

Thinking this must be why Deren is close to Senior Espin, I hung my head even lower than before.

* * * * *

I sneered at the enemies who were paralyzed with fear and unable to do anything.

Those who had just been talking as if they could tear me apart at any moment.

Now it was truly laughable how he was trembling, reduced to a state where he’d be lucky not to wet himself.

‘If only he had kept his mouth shut, I might have let it slide.’

But since he kept running his mouth, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I looked down at him, flailing helplessly under my foot.

Then I slowly turned my gaze towards the abandoned mine.

‘He said the contract was definitely on the lowest level.’

Thinking it would be best to verify whether that statement was true or not myself,

I used mana to lift the guy pinned beneath me and spoke briefly.

“I have a proposal for you.”

Addressing the man whose face was smeared with dirt and could barely speak, I continued.

“Bring me the contract from the bottom of the mine. If you fail to do so, I’ll kill your companions one by one.”

The reason I used the point explosion on the mine first, rather than on the enemies, was for this purpose.

It would be too troublesome and dangerous to go in and search for the contract myself.

Rather than doing that, it was better to send the enemies in to find it instead.

That’s why I made such a proposal.

However, he still seemed unable to grasp the situation, looking around with a dumbfounded expression.

So, I had no choice but to bring him to his senses by lightly tapping his shoulder with my mace.

– Crack!

The sound of bones being crushed.

Along with that sound and the loud scream that followed, I repeated what I had said earlier.

“This is your last chance. Go and bring it right now.”

At those words, as if he had finally come to his senses, he began to tremble all over.

Clutching his tattered arm, he started running towards the abandoned mine as if in a frenzy.

‘Well then… shall I prepare a gift of my own?’

Since the Heaven God Cult has sent me such a grand prank.

I felt the need to send an equally fitting prank in return, and the corners of my mouth turned up.

‘It was definitely about kidnapping and a contract.’

Thinking that kidnapping was a field I was quite confident in, I began to happily contemplate who to kidnap.