Chapter 76: Confidence Is Half the Battle in Impersonation (2)

Shion could hear the commotion outside.

Although the door was tightly shut, and the noises originating from the abandoned building itself, along with the seeping wind, made it hard to hear properly, something felt chaotic.

Had someone else come to visit?

The frequency with which those calling themselves ‘guests’ appeared was strangely high.

…It’s none of my business, is it?

Shion, her body in the worst possible condition, pulled the blanket over her head.

How much time had she wasted in light sleep, unable to fall into a deep slumber due to the gnawing hunger in her stomach and the chilling cold piercing her skin?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Someone pounded on the door and shouted.

─Princess! I’m coming in!

A familiar voice. Shion opened her eyes at the desperate voice from outside.

“Hmm…?”

Clank! Clank!

The closed door rattled. This was the sound of the lock being undone.

Shion, in a half-asleep state, put on the shirt hanging on the chair. She sat on the bed, waiting for the door to open.

Have the Elders decided to answer me?

As expected, if she lay down and persisted, it was a fight she could win.

She thought it would take much longer, but the conclusion came faster than expected. In any case, it was good news.

After finally unlocking the door with trembling hands,

Thud! The Elder who entered opened the door with an urgent look and announced,

“Princess! Please get dressed and come out quickly!”

“…What?”

“It’s urgent! You must get ready quickly!”

Shion suspected that this wasn’t the moment she had been waiting for.

She asked the Elder, who seemed ready to chew off his fingernails in his haste,

“Are you finally going to answer my questions?”

“That’s…”

The question came out in a raspy voice, parched from lack of water.

The Elder wore a look of regret, and Shion’s suspicion turned into certainty.

“Whatever it is, if it’s not that, I’m not going.”

“Princess!”

“Get out of my room. I refuse one-sided negotiations.”

The Elder was at a loss. The errand the Chief Elder had given him wasn’t easy.

He felt like tearing his hair out and jumping around from the intense stress.

How can I persuade her…

It was the Elders’ basic principle not to mention the Reverse Praise Society or anything related to it to the Princess.

If disposal was decided, it wouldn’t matter, but because of the possibility of an unexpected outcome, they couldn’t even utter an explanation.

Now, without the Chief Elder, the decision-maker, the Elder was inevitably speechless.

“How long are you going to stand there? Get out of my room.”

At Shion’s cold response, the Elder clenched his teeth.

After taking several deep breaths, he cast a bait laced with truth.

“…The guests who have arrived know everything that you are curious about, Princess.”

Shion’s eyebrows twitched.

A silence like a thousand years passed between the Elder and the Elf girl.

“Haa… Get out. I’ll get ready.”

“Princess! Please, as quickly as possible!”

“I understand, so close the door first.”

As Shion said, the Elder reached for the doorknob to leave.

However, a sudden question that filled his mind stopped him in his tracks.

Since he’s evaluating the vessel’s qualities, should I also have her bring her weapon?

The man who came as the messenger of the Reverse Praise Society wouldn’t forgive a blunder like hesitation.

If another waiting period arose due to the same issue, this time, the violence would definitely be directed at him.

Swallowing his saliva in fear and checking his perfectly fine gums, the Elder instructed Shion with a tense face.

“…Please dress neatly and bring your weapon with you.”

After finishing his words, the Elder said he would wait and closed the door.

Shion, while changing her clothes, thought,

Dress neatly and even bring my weapon?

The only clothes Shion had to wear outside were her current ones.

He knew that, so why did he say that? Just who had come to make him act like this?

Well, it’s none of my business.

She truly didn’t care who the guest was.

If the bait the Elder had thrown was false, Shion wouldn’t stay still any longer.

Seeing him flustered like that, it couldn’t be an ordinary guest.

If she didn’t get the results she wanted, Shion planned to make a mess of the meeting with this guest.

Click!

Shion, finished with her preparations, opened the door and came out.

She had changed her clothes and even brought her sniper rifle and goggles. The Elder knew that this was the best she could do with her current attire.

“As you said, I’m dressed neatly and brought my weapon.”

“I’ll guide you. Let’s go quickly!”

The Elder, confirming Shion’s appearance, walked ahead with quick steps.

Sensing his haste, Shion asked,

“Where are we going?”

“To the Conference Room.”

At the Elder’s words, Shion furrowed her brows.

The situation was full of questions.

Conference Room?

Wasn’t that the place where the Elders usually jumped up and down, saying she couldn’t enter even if she wanted to participate in the meetings?

As the Elder guided her there, Shion dragged her weak body along, and

“Please hurry inside.”

Just as she was about to step into the Conference Room, following the guidance, her mind froze.

???

Was she hallucinating?

She couldn’t comprehend the situation before her.

Why was that Elder standing still, blood streaming from his mouth like a waterfall, without receiving any treatment?

And what were these blood-stained teeth scattered on the floor?

“…”

Before questioning those things, the most important point for Shion:

Why were Rohan and Clara sitting there?

Is this a dream? A lucid dream?

Confronted with a scene she had never imagined,

Shion’s mind concluded that she was escaping reality.

“…”

However, the girl knew very well that this was not a dream.

A gloomy thought, just in case.

A surge of sadness welled up in her chest at the mere thought. Tears felt like they were about to spill out at any moment.

Rohan’s lips twitched with joy at seeing Shion’s face, but

He suppressed it subtly and glared at the Elder.

“It took you this long to bring her here?”

“I apologize! Actually…”

“Go ahead and blabber. If you give me an excuse I can’t accept, I’ll stick a knife in your mouth.”

“…”

At the chilling threat, the Elders shut their mouths in unison, and

Rohan checked on Shion, who was frozen in place.

And he was taken aback, his expression crumbling.

While the Elders looked straight ahead, not giving her an ounce of attention, Shion’s face looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Could it be?

Did she misunderstand by just looking at the scene?

Rohan, to move the situation along as quickly as possible, continued speaking to the Elders in a disdainful tone.

“Useless things, I can’t trust your work at all. Go and check it yourselves.”

Rohan gestured with his chin towards Clara.

This was what conveying meaning with just a look meant. It was clear what Clara had to tell Shion.

“…”

The girl, who had been sitting in silence, lifted herself from the chair and

Without a word, led Shion, who was holding back tears, outside.

Click. Click. Click.

As the sound of their footsteps faded away, Rohan rose from his chair and grabbed the sword leaning against the wall.

“Now, shall we hear the reason?”

Tap! Tap! Rohan slapped the flat of his hand against the scabbard.

The Elders’ eyes shook uncontrollably at Rohan’s relentless approach.

“Hex-nim told you to raise the vessel properly, but what is this state?”

“Th-That is…”

The Shion Rohan saw had a haggard and pale face.

She looked like she hadn’t eaten or drunk properly. She looked much healthier back when they were struggling together in the Dungeon.

Anger boiled inside him.

“You idiotic things. Can’t you even handle this simple task?”

──Whack! Rohan began the massage with his thick scabbard.

He started beating up all the Elders in sight, rendering them incapacitated, whether their bones broke or not.

Crack! Thwack! Bam!

“Ugh…!”

“Gah! My, my leg…!”

Brutal, blunt sounds echoed through the Conference Room.

And voices squeezing out through the pain.

Except for the Grand Elder sitting in his seat, all the other Elders were rolling around on the floor, covered in blood.

The Elders didn’t offer a single act of defiance against Rohan during the beating.

Idiots.

Even if he borrowed the name of the Reverse Praise Society, could it have gone this smoothly?

Rohan buried the joy of easily incapacitating most of them, and

Using the remaining anger as fuel, he gritted his teeth and glared at the Grand Elder.

“I don’t need the others. Grand Elder Levin Maxwell. You confess the truth.”

“…”

A troubled look flickered in the old man’s wrinkled eyes.

He was racking his brain. Rohan didn’t give him any leeway.

“Nothing to say? Then I’ll report it to Hex-nim as it is, and you won’t have any objections, right?”

“Even I, who was a politician who didn’t step onto the battlefield… I know that being in good health is crucial for cultivating strength, of course.”

The Grand Elder finally spoke after a long silence.

Rohan, as if waiting, was ready to pounce.

“Oh, you knew that, and yet she’s in that state? Go ahead and keep babbling.”

“However, I believe that hardship is an essential element for a sentient being to gain wings.”

“You made her like that for spiritual growth?”

“Precisely.”

Looking at the Elder spinning a long yarn, Rohan held back his laughter.

He was walking right into the perfect direction for Rohan to exploit him.

“You don’t know anything. Only a very small fraction use falling into the abyss as a stepping stone for growth.”

“Yes. You are absolutely right. But I am confident that Testarossa’s bloodline belongs to that small fraction.”

So don’t abandon her, was the implication.

Rohan tapped the floor with the blood-stained scabbard and stroked his chin.

“A plan, you say. It was in too ambiguous a state to be called a deliberate plan.”

“That’s… because the hardship has only just begun.”

The words were flowing smoothly.

Rohan’s eyes drifted towards the entrance of the Conference Room.

When will they come?

Rohan waited for Clara and Shion to return.

This seemed like the most ideal moment to fulfill his promise to Shion.

“Levin Maxwell.”

“Yes. Speak.”

“I’m appalled by the ordinary training you’ve devised. It’s like a child’s play, it doesn’t even make me angry.”

“…We will push her harder. If you just watch for a little while ─”

Thud! The scabbard slammed against the floor, cutting him off.

“I said I would judge the vessel’s potential today.”

“…”

The Grand Elder closed his mouth, as if at a loss for words.

“Levin Maxwell. You were confident that the vessel would overcome mental hardship and grow.”

“That is correct.”

“Good. I must see the mental strength of the vessel you’re so confident in with my own eyes.”

Rohan ordered the Grand Elder.

When Testarossa’s bloodline returned, he was to inform her of the facts he had hidden until now.

The Grand Elder seemed clearly flustered, but

At Rohan’s single word that he would take responsibility, he nodded as if he had never been flustered at all.