episode_0004

“One cigarette. Any kind.”

In a general store in the Imperial Capital.

“One cigarette, you said?”

“No, two… three.”

“So how many? Three packs, correct?”

“Five.”

“…”

As I replenished the store’s cigarette stock and stepped out, the streetscape, reminiscent of the 19th-century Victorian era, greeted me.

It was the heart of the Mage Empire Bretona, said to be the most powerful among the various nations appearing in the Heroic Century.

The Queen’s City—Londinium.

The power and prestige of its name extended beyond the sunny side, not even sparing the shaded places where all sorts of shadows settled.

The eye of a typhoon where all the continent’s corruption, depravity, and desires swirled together.

It was in this very eye of the typhoon that a holy maiden, branded with the Mark of Slave Obedience, would appear as an item in the underground auction.

And then, the real story of this work would finally begin.

By the way, we had no knowledge of either the underground auction or the holy maiden’s abduction.

Because we weren’t the only villains in the world. There were plenty of villains besides us.

That’s why we went through all that trouble, even going to the Holy Kingdom’s Archbishop, just to find it out.

“Wow, look at that! It’s a clock tower! It’s enormous!”

As we left the general store, Alice was jumping up and down, pointing her finger. Her joyful appearance, her gothic dress fluttering like a child on a trip, was typical of her.

“Ah, Rain Orabeoni…”

In contrast, Aria, with her eyes covered by bandages, was fumbling with a blind person’s cane and trembling like a frightened mouse.

Clinging right by my side. She was clinging so tightly that I could even feel the tremor of her trembling shoulder.

“Orabeoni, over there—”

In that state, Aria continued in a hesitant voice.

“Could you… hold my hand?”

“My hand?”

“Well, there are so many people, and I’m worried I might lose you, Orabeoni…”

Taken aback by the unexpected words, I was speechless for a moment.

It seemed she was getting a little too immersed in her role as a blind younger sister.

It was a gap that was hard to get used to every time I saw it.

Nevertheless—it was broad daylight in the Imperial Capital, with so many people walking around. Aria’s actions themselves weren’t strange. Rather, they were a rational way to avoid people’s suspicions.

“…Alright.”

I took Aria’s hand. The hand I held was soft and cold. And it was faintly trembling.

To what extent was this trembling real or fake? I couldn’t tell.

I unconsciously recalled the times she held her black sword with this cold hand.

Then and now, it was so white, slender, and fragile that it was hard to believe it belonged to the same person.

So I carefully took her hand and led her.

As if handling a glass artwork that could easily break with just a slight mistake, a tiny bit of force.

*

In a mafia hideout in Nightchapel, the eastern slum district of the capital, Londinium.

There was a hand there, like a glass artwork, that would break fragilely with just a slight application of force.

*Crack! Snap!*

“Agh, aaaaaah! My hand! My hand!”

The sound of bones breaking, twisting, and shattering. The man’s scream echoed as if to tear one’s ears.

“I-I’ll talk! I’ll talk, so p-please let go of my hand! Agh!”

Only then did Aria release the hand she was holding. The mafia man clutched his grotesquely twisted and broken hand, speaking through sobs of pain.

“M-My organization no longer knows anything about the capital’s ‘underground auction’! We don’t participate in the business either! We’ve been out of it for quite a while! It’s true!”

“Why?”

Aria asked, her voice as cold and emotionless as ever.

“It’s been quite a while! Since a new ‘businessman’ for the underground auction appeared! After he announced he’d revamp the auction, we haven’t been able to get even a single crumb!”

“A new businessman, you say.”

“Yes! Since he took over the underground auction, all sorts of things that no one dared to even dream of from across the continent have entered the auction as ‘goods’! It’s obvious the holy maiden is one of them!”

Hearing that, I finally spoke.

“Tell me what you know about the businessman who revamped the Empire’s underground auction.”

“Th-that is—”

Once again, the mafia man hesitated. As if he couldn’t easily reveal it, even after enduring the pain of his hand being twisted and broken.

“I-If I tell you that, my life will truly be—”

A name that would surely lead to death if revealed. Hearing those words, Aria moved her hand once again.

*Swish.*

Before I knew it, the black sword she carried on her back had touched the mafia man’s neck. It drew a shallow cut across his skin, and drops of blood dripped down.

“Perhaps what you should be focusing on right now isn’t ‘when you speak,’ but ‘when you don’t speak.’”

Aria said. The man had no doubt that her action was not merely an empty threat.

Because, apart from himself, his comrades whose bodies lay dismembered and scattered all around were proof of that.

“P-P-Please, I beg you!”

The mafia man continued to speak, snot and tears flowing desperately.

“I-I don’t know your identities, sirs, but I can tell you’re quite strong!”

“…”

“Y-You must be on some kind of secret investigation, commissioned by somewhere like the Holy Kingdom, to recover the holy maiden! R-Right?!”

The man asked, desperately squeezing out his own theories.

I said nothing. In accordance with my silence, Aria also did not reply.

“Still, it would be best not to get involved any further! R-Really! I’m saying this for your sakes, not mine!”

The man didn’t know our identities. Nor did we intend to tell him.

And why would we? We didn’t go around proclaiming our identities every time we did something. Especially when dealing with small fry like this, we didn’t even need to show our abilities.

That didn’t mean our methods would change, though.

A short while later.

Painful screams echoed, and it didn’t take long for the desired answer to come.

“—It’s the 《Black Serpent》!”

However, contrary to expectations, it was quite an unexpected answer. To the point where I had to doubt my own ears.

“I-It’s true! He really said that!”

The mafia man spoke through his pain. After opening his mouth, he desperately continued to speak to try and salvage the situation.

“D-Doesn’t it make sense?! Without monsters like the 《Black Serpent》, would something like abducting a holy maiden even be possible?! It must be them!”

“…”

“You all know well what it means to get involved with those monsters, don’t you?! It’s the 《Black Serpent》!”

After opening his mouth, he desperately began to explain the weight and infamy of that name, which everyone knew.

“It’s not too late now! Please leave as if you heard nothing! I-I won’t say anything either! That would be the best path for all of us!”

“…”

I didn’t answer. I just sat there silently, putting the next cigarette into my mouth, and thought.

Could it be that ‘the real Rain Grey’ had given an order before I possessed this body?

The first possibility that came to mind.

However, that possibility was quickly denied.

“Did you… really…”

Aria broke the silence and spoke.

“Did you utter that name, the name of the Serpent?”

“Y-Yes! That’s what he said!”

The last mafia man desperately nodded his head.

“—To dare use that name.”

As soon as he nodded, the air in the area froze chillingly. A cold aura rushed through the room, enough to make even my heart drop, despite my desperate attempt to feign composure.

“That name, which our Commander-nim staked his entire being on, and built up with us…”

Aria’s voice was trembling. And I easily understood that the nature of that trembling was clearly different from before.

“Did you say he called that name—my everything, our everything—his own name?”

“Y-Yes…?”

The mafia man was agitated, unable to understand the emotional turmoil she was displaying.

Indeed, it wouldn’t be easy for him to think that the very 《Black Serpent》 was standing before him.

No matter how bored we were, we wouldn’t be raiding a third-rate street mafia organization.

By the way, it turned out there was no such thing as ‘absolute’ in the world.

At first, it was simply to pursue the holy maiden’s whereabouts, to obtain some clue before the story began.

But I soon realized. I had no choice but to realize.

That the story had already begun from the very beginning.

“Aria.”

It was the first time I had seen *this* Aria, trembling and agitated, unable to control her own emotions.

However, as someone who had to lead the organization, I couldn’t afford to get swept up in it with her.

I just spoke calmly, as always, putting the next cigarette into my mouth.

“Gather the comrades.”

To do what needed to be done.