When you think it’s too late, it’s really too late. (2)

In front of a black building that looks a little scary and stuffy, as if the hot summer is just around the corner and the entire building is painted black as if it has nothing to do with you.

A girl dressed in black arrived and pushed open the door, and inside there was a line of large men dressed in the same black, looking at her and welcoming her.

“”””Welcome back! Lord Matap!!””””

“Nothing happened.”

“”””Yes!!””””

Piana Stone, the owner of the black tower, receives their greetings indifferently.

And the procession of big guys seeing her off reminded her of gangsters or organized crime, but in reality, they were people who had been active in that area and had been absorbed by her.

The back alleys of the kingdom. It had been several years since she had completely conquered the dark places and led them to complete the Black Tower.

“Do your own thing.”

“”””Okay!!””◦””

As I snickered at them and headed towards the elevator, relief and small doubts appeared on the faces of the large men.

-Have you found Rudis yet?

-Hatta, you haven’t smiled in almost two months?

-Oh, the ice rink is over now.

-But what on earth happened with Geumma that makes her look so happy?

-… No way, was that a gold horse lolicon? That kid who didn’t even care about his sister’s original appearance… “

-Hey, no way, are you eating my sister’s golden horse right now…!!

As is typical of men’s bathhouses, and as they were in the past, they were black, bulky guys who were having fun talking to each other about things that might kill them if they heard Piana talking about sex.

Piana was aware of their actions and conversations to some extent, but she just ignored them unless they were making a fuss in front of her.

Just because a person repents doesn’t mean their personality changes.

-Ding dong~

“Are you here, Lord Tower?”

“Why are you waiting in the elevator?”

“Let’s talk as we go up.”

When Brocken, the sub-chief of the Black Tower who had lined up the black magicians, waited in the elevator with a fierce expression and gestured for Piana to get on quickly, Piana tilted her head at his actions but started to climb the tower with him.

“Did you solve it well with Erla?”

“Yeah, I gave my phone to Rudis. You can call me later and talk. And I asked another earl to make me another phone.”

She was really happy that she was getting along well with Rudis, and now she was starting to completely regain her former self. After Brocken let out a small sigh of relief, he quietly brought up the main topic as the elevator passed the middle floor.

“Do you know what this is?”

“… What is that? It looks like a potion. But the magic power and ingredients that went into it are just crap? “

“There’s a potion that increases the level of special traits that’s been going around in back alleys these days. My two kids ate it.”

“What’s the kids’ status?”

“One of them is still unconscious in the infirmary. Another one drank a bottle of the stuff Geumma bought him later, and he’s showing signs of withdrawal and dementia these days.”

Although it was not analyzed accurately, to Piana, who was in opposition to the ranks of magicians, the potion looked like it was a mixture of demon blood and human blood, and the magic it was made with was also a mixture of demon black magic, and this was all confirmed by Brocken’s voice.

“The chewing gum sold.”

“Caught in the kingdom.”

“… You mean he was a person?”

“That seems to be the case, for now we didn’t report any damage. There’s a high possibility of problems.”

“Keep it hidden until the end, and devote all your remaining energy to detoxing and recovering the children. Don’t worry about money, I’m working again now. Rudis said she’ll accept work like before. “

“… So, that’s what I’m saying… “

Is there still something more?

Piana frowned at the fact that Brocken’s voice had a slightly raspy tone, foreseeing that troubles would continue, and her judgment proved correct.

“… Recently, Nora brought me a criminal bitch who ate that? So she’s currently doing clinical trials on Geumma… “

“Washpal! Where are you!!”

“Hey, wait!! Don’t get angry first and tell me what you want!!”

“This bitch!! I told you to reflect on yourself by getting crushed on the rooftop, what kind of shitty thing are you doing…!!”

-Ding dong~

“… Huh? Um… Are you back, Master? “

“… Nora, didn’t I tell you not to come to the top floor without permission? “

“Wait! I brought it!!”

Brocken, who had caught Piana, whose voice was filled with murder, made her get off the elevator and then motioned strongly for Nora to go to her room. Nora nodded repeatedly and escaped in the elevator.

“… Ssippal, explain it straight. Do you know how I make a bastard who sacrifices people with black magic? “

“I’m not doing human sacrifice! I’m just soaking in potions and catching a criminal who’s close to dying and treating her to prolong her life. And since our kids are also turned upside down, I’m also conducting clinical experiments with magic or potions that might be effective!”

“… Isn’t that a human experiment?”

“You’re a fucking criminal!”

“Washpal.”

Brocken thought that Matapju, who was known to be very loud, would listen to him more quietly than expected, so he quickly explained the situation.

If it were reported to the kingdom that there was a victim who drank an illegal potion here, it would naturally be bad for the Black Tower’s position, but fortunately, the criminal who was in the place where the potion was being traded was able to take the potion and herself here.

They say it was Nora who did it.

“Haa… Why don’t my disciples and disciples listen to me? Did I raise them wrong?”

“If you drink all day, fight, and swear, will the kids grow up to be like that?”

“… If I have a child, I’ll have to tone down my personality and drink less.”

“Just hang up, you idiot.”

In the end, Piana listens to Brocken and decides to hold back on punishing Nora.

However, she felt that the situation she had imagined on the airship was repeating itself in the kingdom, and she began to tell Brocken a different story.

“The creator, the demon, wasn’t caught?”

“Really? It seems like the Knights are also tracking it, but the captured dark bastard doesn’t seem to have any information.”

“A potion that increases the level of a trait… What the hell. This is something that every human would want to sell their parents for. The fact that the bastard who made this shit pops up at this timing is truly legendary.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you understand? How many demons have appeared in the past two years?”

“Huh? Let’s see, let’s see… … Six fucking ones?”

“That’s also a publicly known effort, and if you include the demons that Rudis met in the empire, it’s seven. Those bastards that were said to come out a lot when they came out once a year, or those bastards that were called natural disasters when they committed an incident, have multiplied several times in the past two years.”

“… What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know. And it’s up to you and me, the ‘guardians’, to figure that out.”

Then Piana gave instructions to Brocken.

The magicians of the Black Tower must always travel in groups of three, and everyone must always carry three intermediate catalysts.

If you meet the Demon, have them contact Piana or Brocken immediately.

“Shut up. Even without the catalyst, as soon as the work of finding the earl was finished, all the kids went into making the catalyst… If everyone has 3, they won’t even be able to sell the original quantity. “

“Do you have the materials?”

“If I had it, what would I do? I failed miserably.

“Call Rudis and give her the materials. She’ll help you with that. And, find a house for her and me to live in together.”

“You’re going to go in this situation?”

“Shit. I’m going to clean up everything here and go. If I’m going to put a pagoda there anyway, I’m going to have to hit the sledgehammer. And I’m going to the palace now. These guys, in my opinion, are controlling information about the Demons. “

Piana, who had given instructions that were almost on alert, finished talking appropriately and got on the elevator.

“Are we going straight?”

“I have a lot to do. First, I have to go and get my damn disciple.”

“Hey! Don’t scold him…?!”

Piana, who had let her guard down thinking that Nora’s story was over, left Brocken on the upper floor and closed the elevator, then immediately went to the floor where Nora and Rudis used to live.

*

“Ah, s… Master.”

“… … “

Blackened wallpaper, and magic books and research papers scattered here and there.

Piana clicked her tongue and opened her mouth at the sight of Nora’s lab, which looked like a modern version of a witch’s house from an old fairy tale.

“Are you walking around without even eating?”

“… … “

Before saying, “What is this?”, the first thing that came to mind was Nora’s appearance.

Her skin, once full of youth and vitality, is now so flaky that you’d believe she’s middle-aged, and her black hair, which she’s always neglected to wash because she’s busy studying and improving the human rights of black magicians at the Academy, is so black that you’d believe she’s partially dyed white because of dandruff.

And the sunken cheeks and tired, sunken eyes that overwhelmed all of that were at a level that you would think even a starving and sleep-deprived orphan wouldn’t be like this.

“… Hehe. I don’t have much time to eat. Oh, but the Lord of the Tower just gave me some nutritional supplements and calorie snacks, so I ate them… “

“You idiot!!”

-Bam!!

“Evil?!”

And Piana, who had kicked Nora’s shin while she was grumbling in approval, continued to speak with a grin.

“If you go around reflecting on yourself like that! Who said that Rudis would say, “Oh my, you’re doing well! You’re doing well!”?!”

“S, Master… “

“Shitty!! If only he had taken care of you and protected you with his magic book, why are you even planning on making him worry about eating and washing himself!!”

When Brocken stopped her in the elevator earlier, the reason she didn’t struggle any further or say anything was because she looked so pitiful.

Because it was so absurd to see his disciple become so haggard that it was believable that he hadn’t eaten anything since that day after being attacked by the demons at the academy.

That’s why I had no choice but to shout at my disciple.

“The disciple was doing fine without caring about people like you! If you want to atone, you should take care of yourself properly and go to the guy and apologize. What difference does it make if he bullies you!”

“Ugh… “

At Piana’s scream, Nora’s face distorts and she chews on her lips while hugging the magic book she had been holding.

However, Nora, who looked like she was about to cry at any moment, answered her teacher with a choked voice without shedding any tears.

“I’m sorry… But, the more I look into it… !! The more I look into it, the more I see that Rudis knew that there were demons or humans who were in collusion with demons around us at the academy and moved… !! I, I… I don’t know… a little bit… ! If I had tried to find out just a little bit, I would have found out for sure… !!”

“… What?”

Overflowing regret and despair from making the wrong choice the day before stab her in the back like a knife.

Nora told Piana what she had been researching on her own for over a month.

The female student that Rudis beat up a few days after they entered the school in the first year was a demon who had hidden in human society, and the upperclassmen and classmates who tried to harass Nora and Ellis by revealing their identities were all trampled by Rudis and he changed his target to him.

And among them, there were humans who had colluded with the demons, and some of them even dropped out and when I followed them to their addresses, I found out that they were humans from a village that had disappeared several years ago due to a disaster called the demons’ attack.

In other words, there was a very high chance that it was not human.

In addition, Nora, who had listed all the things she had found out about Rudis’ possible actions, knelt down for the last time as if making a confession and spoke in front of Piana.

“Rudis… !! The day of the incident where they attempted to commit terrorism… !! The day before, two people broke into the space where the central magic stone of the academy was! Both of them were professors, and there were traces that both of them had ‘secretly’ approached the magic stone before! And, someone erased that information! No one knows what they were carrying in that time, but at least Rudis didn’t carry anything in that day… !!”

“… You crazy bitch. You figured that out in just one month?”

Nora, whose hard work and sincerity were acknowledged by everyone.

She lived this month with all her might.

Meet with the information dealer in the shadows, bribe the guards at the Academy to get information that others may view as useless.

They even dug up the graves of people who had already dropped out of the academy and people who died shortly after dropping out to confirm whether the person they were dealing with was really a human.

And among the humans who dropped out, those who were definitely human were bribed to find out why they had fought with Rudis and why their relationship had become strained, and if they were lying, they were even threatened to find out the truth.

“I was a retard… I was such a bitch that I wouldn’t have cared if the Master had killed me that day…!! Rudis was protecting us all along, in a place we didn’t know about! I just believed what was right in front of me and didn’t try to find out! It’s already… too late to just apologize and ask for his forgiveness!!”

As a result, most of the things that Rudis had intentionally solved by creating misunderstandings as a third-rate villain were now known to have been discovered.

Viola Violet. She was the last piece.

The truth that caught her and extracted her testimony was that Rudis did not go around picking fights with second and third year students at random.

A gang mixed with demons, or a gang intertwined with demons.

They were people who didn’t know that they were connected to the demons, or that there were demons in their group. In any case, they were connected to the demons in some way and were trying to approach Ellis, himself, Albert, or Raoul, and Rudis was blocking that from the beginning.

By protecting and guarding themselves, and also leaving the impression that they are the worst people in the academy, they act in a way that makes it impossible for everyone to turn their attention to them.

“You crazy bitch. If you found out, you should go to the guy and apologize… “

“Ugh… I can’t do it. Not yet, I still can’t be forgiven by Rudis.”

As she spoke, Nora felt as if she was about to burst into tears, and bit her dry lips so hard that it bled to the point of tears. She stood up and guided her teacher, Piana, into her laboratory.

“… I bet you taught them never to do human experiments? “

“It wasn’t me. The person who drank that potion became like that.”

Inside the personal study.

There was a chained human being. No, something that looked like a human was lying there helplessly.

“… Who are you?”

“She’s a criminal who bought potions made by the Demons. Her name is Viola Violet. She’s a noblewoman. We’re trying to prolong her life, but honestly, if things continue this way, she’ll die within 3 months. “

Her once glossy purple hair has fallen out to the point where her scalp is visible, as if she is suffering from alopecia, and her eyes are so out of focus that you would think they are dead fish.

Moreover, it was hard to believe that he was in his 20s. No, it was hard to believe that he had been perfectly normal just a few days ago. His entire body was wrinkled and withered.

“What does this have to do with the fact that I still haven’t been forgiven by my fucking disciple?”

“… There was one last thing this woman said when she was still of sound mind.”

Unlike her weakened appearance until just now, Nora spoke with her dark eyes burning with determination.

“They said that in a few years, the demon will be resurrected. The demons are moving for that reason. Originally, I should have lost consciousness and died before that, but I started life-extending treatment and couldn’t die, and I’m talking like someone who has a tongue, not out of my own will or knowledge.”

“?”

“I muttered several times as if I was dreaming that because of the potion I drank. So, I will revive this woman… or the people who drank the potion, collect evidence, and subdue the demons. That would be the only way I could apologize and return Rudis to her peaceful daily life. “

Nora, who seemed to not care about her master’s reaction of growing blue eyes and collecting hooks at the mention of the resurrection of the demon, hugged the magic book that Rudis had given her tightly and recited her determination.