episode_0207

The plan to kill Prince MacHeart was carried out discreetly and cautiously.

In truth, MacHeart himself wasn’t a particularly threatening individual. His personality was inherently timid, lacking in seriousness, and more focused on indulging in a lavish lifestyle rather than being a formidable opponent.

Comparing the time it took for him to transform into a demon with other characters, it was evident that his weakness was certain. While characters like Karaheim, who also borrowed the power of demons, completed their transformation in less than a year, MacHeart, that idiot, took a total of five years to complete his transformation.

This comparison often became a meme in the community. The time it took to pick MacHeart was said to be equivalent to picking five Karahems, yet in terms of performance, even combining five MacHearts couldn’t match up to one Karaheim.

In fact, in terms of difficulty in gameplay, the boss in Part 2, Harold, or the boss in Part 3, Augustus Changeback, were much more challenging than MacHeart, the boss in Part 4.

Furthermore, he was currently unable to even complete his transformation and remained in a state of borrowing the power of demons as a human, so MacHeart, who was not a demon, posed no real threat when faced head-on in a party.

Yet, the reason why we couldn’t kill him before his transformation into a demon was simply because he was a member of the ‘Royal Family.’

While he wielded the power of demons, until he completed his transformation, he was not a demon, and killing him in his human state would be considered regicide.

Therefore, there were two main tasks we needed to accomplish before killing MacHeart.

One was to lure MacHeart into a false sense of security, creating a situation where we could somehow engage in combat with him, and the other was to create evidence or means to prove that MacHeart was in cahoots with demons even after his death.

…And, the strategy I came up with to achieve the first task of ‘luring him into a false sense of security’ was the final evaluation duel between me and Agnes.

“Currently, MacHeart sees me and Agnes as close friends, so we need to somehow make him believe otherwise.”

The reason why MacHeart couldn’t easily touch me within the academy was simple. Throughout the time spent at the academy, Agnes or Ethan always stuck close to me, preventing MacHeart from approaching.

Usually, during the morning major classes, Agnes would be by my side, and during the afternoon walk back to the dorms, it would be Ethan.

Since MacHeart was naturally cautious in matters where his life was at stake, he wouldn’t attack me unless he was absolutely certain he could win, just like last time.

However, he hadn’t completely let go of his feelings for me, so he would try to find any opening to capture me. Even in the game, there were descriptions of MacHeart being quite obsessive in his own way.

Ethan was someone who understood that he was my master and even had access to the same dormitory, so there was no avoiding his presence, but Agnes was different.

I had already made it clear to her that our relationship had become distant, showing her enough evidence to make her believe that, and somehow making MacHeart let his guard down and attack me again.

To start the first phase of this plan, a week ago, in front of the central building of the academy, Agnes and I casually chatted as we pretended to move from the Magic Department building to the Swordsmanship Department building.

“Shall we start slowly, Agnes?”

“Are you sure about this? I don’t think we need to go this far.”

“If I don’t do something now, I might be threatened by Prince MacHeart throughout the second semester and even next year. Maybe we don’t need to go this far, as Agnes says, but I want to try everything and have no regrets later.”

“…Alright then.”

With that conversation, Agnes and I sat side by side on a bench near the fountain in the Academy Central Hall, starting our conversation a bit louder than usual.

Trying to attract the attention of the people around us to listen to our conversation.

“This semester was really tough, Agnes.”

“…You too, Lillis.”

“Agnes, you were the top student this semester, right? I really can’t keep up with you.”

“…It’s not like that, you did well too.”

Even though we had practiced a few times beforehand, the conversation flowed quite naturally.

Agnes, not being a professional actress, had a slightly awkward tone of voice, but it wasn’t enough for anyone to notice it was out of the ordinary.

Since Agnes rarely spoke unless it was in front of me or Seraphine, there wouldn’t be anyone to compare her usual speech to, so no one would notice anything strange.

Feeling relieved that everything was going according to plan, I continued the conversation casually. As more students gathered around, I purposely spoke louder so that they could overhear our conversation.

“Now all that’s left is the final evaluation duel, right? Have you decided who your opponent will be, Agnes?”

“….!”

“….”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I suddenly felt a strange sensation of attention and stares from the people around me.

Especially from the magic department students who were wearing cloaks that enhanced their magical sensitivity. It was only natural since their magic class had just ended.

As the conversation revealed who Agnes’ opponent would be in the evaluation duel, the magic department students paid close attention. Most of them were probably silently praying, “Please don’t let it be me.”

Agnes seemed to have noticed the interest and stares directed at us, but she continued the conversation calmly without getting flustered.

“Yeah, I’ve decided.”

“Can you tell me who it is?”

“Why? Don’t you think there’s a possibility that I chose you as my opponent?”

“There might be a chance, but I don’t think you would choose me on such an important day like the evaluation duel, especially since I’m your friend.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s not you.”

“….”

“Then why me…”

As soon as Agnes said she wouldn’t choose me as her opponent, there was another subtle reaction from the people around us.

It felt like I could hear Isolde’s voice from last year’s evaluation duel, but I didn’t have the courage to confirm it.

The magic department students surrounding us, anticipating our conversation to continue, began eavesdropping using various methods like wind magic, vision communication, and other eavesdropping spells.

If this had happened during our usual conversations, we would have disrupted the eavesdropping by disturbing the surrounding magic, but this time we held back our natural magic flow and continued our conversation without interference.

Our conversation needed to spread as a rumor to as many people as possible, rather than being kept secret.

“It’s not Lillis, it’s Karan.”

“Gah…uh, uh?!”

“….”

“….”

It felt like Karan’s scream could be heard, but I didn’t dare to confirm. I just silently acknowledged that even the third-ranked student in the magic department was eavesdropping on our conversation.

Suddenly, it seemed like the other students hurriedly covered their mouths to prevent any noise from escaping. They were probably worried that causing a commotion might expose their eavesdropping magic.

“Are you talking about Karan Iris Stormweaver, the 3rd ranked magician in the Magic Department?”

“Yeah. She’s right below Lillis in rank.”

“Come to think of it, you faced Isolbe, who was in second place last year, right? In many ways, it’s a very Agnes-like choice.”

“What about you? Who are you facing in your evaluation match?”

“Well, I haven’t decided yet. But I have someone in mind.”

“…!”

“….”

“…?”

The intensity of the magic flowing through the eavesdropping spell increased again at the thought of being able to find out both Agnes’s evaluation match opponent and my own.

While not as overwhelming as Agnes, I, as the second-ranked student, also did not want to face a tough opponent in the evaluation match. There might even be people who consider me more difficult to deal with than Agnes, based on the evaluation match duel I had with Luke last year. Considering both long-range and close combat due to wielding a dagger made me a challenging opponent at the student level.

So, it was natural for them to wait for my next response to come out of my mouth, but I did not give them the answer they were expecting.

From the very beginning of this conversation, all I wanted was one thing.

After all the Magic Department’s core subjects were over, right in front of the Academy’s central hall where most people gathered, I intentionally let the conversation be overheard without blocking the eavesdropping magic, in order to grab the attention of the Magic Department students with the current conversation.

“Oh, by the way, Agnes.”

“Yeah.”

“You know, the curved magic circle that Agnes submitted for the end-of-term assignment this semester.”

“…Yeah.”

“To be honest, I’m only mentioning this now, but when I saw it, it was really not that great, you know?”

“…?!”

“…!!!”

“….”

Just hinting that there was a rift between us wouldn’t add credibility to that rumor.

In order to portray a rift between Agnes and me, I had to clearly show the reasons for that rift.