Shedding
by Afuhfuihgs
I returned to Modiste’s secret hideout with the Golden King. As I descended the basement stairs, everyone’s eyes focused on me. Raellan, who approached me, quickly grasped the situation and politely bowed to the Golden King on my back.
…Yeah, the Golden King was on my back because he was too lazy to walk.
“Thank you for coming so far.”
“…Uh-huh.”
With Eunice’s help, I carefully placed the Golden King on the sofa, and he slumped down as if his body had melted. Everyone nodded, thinking, ‘Yep, that’s definitely the Golden King,’ seeing his lazy demeanor.
“Thanks.”
I thanked Ellie, who offered me a glass full of cold water for my trouble. Ellie looked up at me for a moment, then smiled softly.
“Looks like you persuaded him well?”
“…I wonder.”
Just one day, and that too on the condition that he returns to El Dorado within that time, he’s on our side. I was a little uneasy, thinking it might be different from what Raellan wanted.
Sure enough, Raellan, having heard the terms of the deal from Eunice in the meantime, was glaring at me fiercely as he approached.
Ellie, having taken back the empty glass, quickly assessed the atmosphere and subtly stepped back. Raellan, who had instantly come behind me, twisted his head slightly and smiled. The crooked corners of his mouth felt as sharp as blades.
“One day?”
I swallowed hard at Raellan’s sharp gaze.
“…I did my best.”
“Yeah, you did well. Better than expected.”
“Eunice wasn’t much help… I was lucky.”
I quickly changed my words because I didn’t expect Raellan to praise me so suddenly. Come to think of it, Raellan didn’t have much of an expression anyway, so he always had a fierce face.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to hear the first part, thanks to my vague and apologetic words. Raellan distorted his lips and smiled contentedly.
“There are many ways to maximize the value of the Golden King. If he fights the Order for a day without restrictions, we could even consider the extreme methods we had discarded.”
I had a feeling I’d get tired if I asked what those methods were, so I brought up something else.
“…You mustn’t forget the condition that he returns to El Dorado within today.”
“No need to worry about that. It’s enough to send him to El Dorado before the day ends.”
With that, Raellan clapped his hands and gathered his comrades. As his comrades, who had been scattered and talking, all gathered, Raellan said to everyone.
“We’re slightly modifying the plan.”
Raellan brandished the staff he took from his bosom, and a large box appeared on the table. Raellan immediately opened the box and took out the contents.
Ellie, who was standing near Raellan and received the item first, tilted her head.
“This is….”
“A mask with a design similar to the Lily Mask used by Ross, and a robe with lily embroidery on a black background. Everyone wears this and enters the labyrinth. It will be easy to distinguish allies in the labyrinth, and it will show that we have comrades who share the same ideals as the lily.”
Raellan turned his eyes and glanced at me.
“Ross, you will also act as the lily in the labyrinth.”
I thought of the Golden King lying on the sofa and whispered to Raellan, who was handing me the robe.
“…Is it okay if the Golden King knows that I’m the lily?”
“It doesn’t matter if he knows. He’s too lazy to even blab about who the lily is anyway. No, he probably won’t even know who the lily is. He wouldn’t care about what’s going on in the world.”
I nodded absentmindedly at Raellan’s words. Like he said, it didn’t seem like a big problem if the Golden King found out that I was the lily.
I couldn’t imagine someone who was too lazy to walk even talking to someone first.
I was a little worried that he might even make me fight for him because he was too lazy to move, he was so consistently lazy.
“…But is there a reason to enter the labyrinth as the lily?”
I didn’t reveal the sins of the dead while working as the lily. Proving someone’s guilt is very difficult. There had to be evidence, and sometimes witnesses were essential.
Revealing sins usually takes a long time. But I didn’t have time to spare. I thought it would be more efficient to kill one more villain in the time it took to reveal sins, so I just left a lily as a mark on the corpse.
The truly bad people didn’t reveal their true identities to others. The moment you face the monster hidden inside is when you’re facing death. Thanks to this, there was public opinion criticizing the lily, blaming the death of a villain who was known as a saint in the world.
Modiste worked hard to spread the rumor that the corpses with lilies were terrible villains, but no one could easily accept that their proud family or friends were actually monsters in disguise.
If I entered the labyrinth as the lily, it was obvious that people who had ties to those I killed would try to take revenge. From my perspective, who needed to quickly descend to the next floor, they were annoying obstacles.
Raellan answered curtly to my concerns.
“The advice to use a strategist was to listen to strategies with perspectives you hadn’t thought of, not to ask for even simple thoughts to be done for you.”
“…”
Raellan, who sighed silently at my silence, explained.
“There’s a lot we can gain just by revealing that the lily is participating in the labyrinth. First of all, the Order will come looking for us on their own without us having to find them. And if we show the Golden King with the lily, no one will dare to block our path in the labyrinth except for the Order or Roel.”
I was purely impressed by Raellan’s attempt to maximize the Golden King’s one-day pass. The Golden King was only with us for one day, but if the rumor spread that the Golden King had caught the lily and Soon, everyone would avoid encountering us in the labyrinth.
“If you roughly understand, get ready to leave.”
“Understood.”
I put on the mask and robe I received from Raellan. Just as Raellan was inspecting the outfit and about to tell me to start, the Golden King, who was lying on the sofa, suddenly opened his mouth.
“The Hatchling?”
“…We will arrange for it to go to El Dorado with you when the deal is completely over.”
At Raellan’s words, the Golden King’s eyelids slowly began to close. Raellan, who didn’t understand what that meant, thought that the Golden King had accepted his proposal.
I turned to Raellan, who was looking at me, and shook my hand with a sigh, signaling that it wasn’t. Seeing Raellan’s face, which was frowning and not understanding, I looked at the Golden King’s eyelids, which were almost closed, and said.
“It’s almost time to enter the labyrinth, but would you like to see the Hatchling even for a moment?”
At my words, Raellan turned his head to the Golden King with an interesting expression. The eyelids that had been almost closed were now squinting.
“…Now.”
At the Golden King’s answer, Raellan quickly gestured to Lamine, who was leaning against the wall. Lamine, who received the signal, brought the Hatchling, which was locked in a cage, from Estelle’s room.
The Hatchling was flapping its wings incessantly, as if the small cage was uncomfortable. Hearing the sound, the Golden King slowly got up from the sofa. Finally, the Hatchling and the Golden King’s gazes tangled in the air.
“…”
“…”
The two, who had been glaring at each other for a while, fell into silence. After a while, the Golden King, who had completely risen from the sofa, slowly approached the Hatchling.
As the Golden King approached, the Hatchling began to go wild, as if it had met a predator, ready to break the cage. It seemed to be the first time it had met a member of the same species. Lamine was flustered by the Hatchling’s violent reaction and placed the cage on the table.
Tak-
The Golden King’s hand touched the iron bars of the cage. I was worried that he might get bitten, and I heard the Golden King’s small murmur in my ear.
“…Edio?”
In that instant, the Hatchling froze in the same position as it was flapping its wings, as if it had been pricked by a thorn. However, it didn’t seem to be truly frozen, as its pupils were shaking violently.
The Golden King, as if he had gained some certainty from that strange reaction, drew up an enormous amount of magic power and enveloped the cage. I recognized the surrounding space coordinates in advance, in case something was about to happen.
“Edio.”
As the Golden King repeated that unknown murmur again, a bright light suddenly began to emanate from the Hatchling’s body.
Is now the time to run away? I grabbed Ellie’s arm next to me and tried to escape the basement with space magic by creating a dimensional passage, but suddenly Ellie pulled me towards her.
“What are you…”
“There’s no need to run away. That magic isn’t dangerous.”
Relieved by Ellie’s words, I turned my head and looked at the Golden King and the Hatchling.
The Hatchling, whose light emanating from its body had disappeared, was blinking blankly and meeting eyes with the Golden King.
It didn’t seem to have changed much considering it had emitted light-
Jjeojeok-!
The sound of something bursting echoed in the basement. The sound came from the cage where the Hatchling was trapped.
The Hatchling began to twist its body on its own, as if its body was itchy. Then, the Hatchling’s black shell cracked, and the golden shell inside, emitting a brilliant light, brightly illuminated the basement.
“Edio.”
This time, a reply was heard to the Golden King’s murmur.
“…Lumiel?”
The Hatchling spoke.
And it even said the Golden King’s name.
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