by Sakon Kaidou
“I can tell. That was why your plot had those intentional holes,” she said as she put up three fingers. “Three main points. First, there was the question if telling Ellie about the greatness of Gideon would really get her to escape and abandon her duties. Second, it was a test to see if the Royal Guard was really incapable of doing what they had to when faced with such incidents. And third, there was the question of whether Count Gideon’s city was safe enough for a girl like Ellie to walk around in all by herself. If they behaved in a way that cleared at least one of these three, they — just like you — would merely have been doing their duties to the best of their ability, which would mean that all the misfortunes you’ve faced were only your own fault. That’s what you were thinking, correct?”
Correct.
I had talked to Her Highness Elizabeth, the most brazen of the three princesses, and given her an idealized image of Gideon.
Then I had intentionally provided the Royal Guard with the wrong documents — ones that would get in the way of their protection duties.
Those two acts had increased the chances of the princess escaping the residence, and that was the extent of what I had done.
“The only problems would’ve occurred if there were failures on all three points,” said the woman. “If Ellie — a part of the royal family — got hurt, it would’ve been the responsibility of both the Royal Guard and Count Gideon, and your revenge would’ve been complete.”
I had let fate show me whether my grudge was misplaced or if there was anything more to it.
“It’s hard to call this a plan, and I don’t quite believe that it would’ve been their fault even if it went through... still, it was quite close,” she said.
“But it didn’t happen, yes?” I asked.
“Indeed. To the royal family, the Royal Guard, Count Gideon... and to Ellie herself, this is merely a case of ‘the whimsical princess ran away and enjoyed a day in Gideon.’ That’s it.”
“Thank you,” I said in gratitude before I even realized it.
“For what?” she asked.
I had said the words without even thinking, so even I didn’t know how to answer that. However, after a bit of consideration, I decided that words of thanks really were the most appropriate here.
“Thanks to you fortunately being there to save Her Highness’s life, I have finally reached a conclusion.” The things that had happened during this incident had given me the ultimate answer. “I... I was merely unlucky.”
The death of my son, the poor state of my lands... it all boiled down to that word.
No one in the kingdom was at fault. The cause of it all didn’t lie with anyone else. I had merely been unlucky.
“I can’t resent anyone for these results. My son went to war and was merely unlucky enough to die, while my lands unfortunately caught a plague. No one is at fault here... and yet, unable to see that, I went and did something truly unjust.”
“Indeed,” said the woman. “I also have a thing or two to say about you using Ellie’s life as a pair of dice.”
And she was right to feel that way, for — though indirectly — I had tried to hurt Her Highness Elizabeth. Brazen as she was, the second princess was a very gentle young lady.
I can’t believe I used her as a touchstone, I thought in self-disgust.
“However, again, this incident is nothing but ‘the princess ran away,’” said the woman.
Thus, no one would be blamed for this. Her Highness Elizabeth would get scolded, but that was the extent of it.
“But then...” I began.
“If you feel guilty,” she cut my words short, “work hard enough to make it up to her. Starting with this.”
Saying that, the woman gave me three bundles of documents.
“What is this?” I asked.
“I’ve gathered the proof and records of the injustices committed by Marquis Borozel — the one who sent assassins after Ellie,” she answered. “Just say that you found it while organizing your documents or something and get him the punishment he deserves.”
Naturally, I was surprised, for the files she’d given me were like the ones found in a noble’s most secretive safe. Apparently, after protecting the princess, she had gone straight into Marquis Borozel’s territory, taken these documents, and then returned here to the capital.
“Anyway, my job here is done, so I’ll take my leave,” she said.
“Wait,” I called out. “Just who are you?”
My question made her form a smile.
“I’m just a passing Journalist,” she answered as she disappeared like mist in the wind or shadow in sunlight.
◇◇◇
Journalist/Death Shadow, Marie Adler
The day after the one I’d spent with Ellie, I was sitting in a terrace seat at one of the more popular cafés here in Gideon.
“...I’m sooo tired,” I muttered.
The reason for that was obvious — I was still drained from all that I’d done yesterday.
Ticket acquisition, the date with Ellie, taking care of the assassins sent after her, getting dirt on the main offender, Marquis Borozel, and then talking to Count Brittis... all of that had happened in a single day. The latter three had been after sundown, too.
Sure, I had a Superior Job, and yes, my total level was above 500. Though my stats didn’t match those of Superior Jobs focused purely on fighting, they were extremely high nonetheless. My AGI was in the quintuple digits, and I could move at the speed of sound, making me a particularly super woman, if you’ll pardon the joke.
However, HP and energy were different things, plus MP and SP had no connection to mental fatigue. I was so sleepy.
However, I couldn’t let the Sandman take me, for it was the day of the long-awaited event known only as “The Clash of the Superiors.” I had to wait for Ray and Rook, too, which was all the more reason why I couldn’t sleep.
“Ray, huh...?” I murmured.
That was the name of the young man I’d met at Noz Forest, where I had been doing my work as a professional killer.
I was a roleplayer taking the role of Marie — the protagonist of my hitman superpower battle manga. To get properly immersed in her as a character, I simply couldn’t do without the act of murdering people as a professional killer.
However, tians — just like living people — were intelligent beings. Due to that, I was wholly averse to the idea of killing them. Although ones like the assassins from yesterday were exceptions.
Anyway, that was why I’d chosen to become a professional killer focused solely on Masters — who didn’t die even if they were killed. Unlike tians, they revived, and their lives would never be in any real danger. I had no problems killing them for my roleplaying purposes.
With that in mind, I’d spent my time in Tenchi taking and training in jobs from the onmitsu grouping, such as Onmitsu and Shadow. Eventually, I’d gotten the Superior Job of Death Shadow, and become a professional killer focused solely on PK.
I had chosen the onmitsu grouping’s jobs because my manga’s Marie had a similar fighting style to them, often using transformation and clones in her battles.
My success rate was very high, and the processes I went through to get my targets helped me learn to draw methods of assassination I had never thought of before. Being a professional killer was a valuable experience for both Dendro and my real life.
Once, my target had been the King of Plagues — a Superior who’d gotten on all wanted lists for indiscriminately killing tens of thousands of tians. The battle had been so grueling that I’d thought I was gonna die for real, but I had somehow been able to defeat him and send him to the gaol.
My most recent job had been the newbie PK hunt at Noz Forest.
I didn’t know who’d requested it, but I’d been presented with a sizable sum of money for it. Though I’d been averse to the idea of indiscriminately killing almost nothing but newbies, the fact that I hadn’t done such assassinations before had greatly intrigued me. Also, I had recalled that Into the Sh
adow had an event where apprentice assassins of a certain organization were one-sidedly massacred, which had made me think that this might help me revitalize the Marie that was lying dormant inside me.
Thus, I’d accepted the job, entered Noz Forest, and started killing all the Masters there, among which was Ray.
I found him to be quite interesting. Despite being a newbie, he’d been able to survive the first of my Embryo’s attacks. Then he’d gone on to block the second one, and had still had the willpower to deflect the third.
In the end, I’d used bullet creatures made from a mix of Black Pursuit and Blue Dispersion to finally give him the death penalty, but what mattered weren’t the results.
The important thing here was the expressions and emotions he’d displayed.
While struggling against the death penalty, he was alive.
Well, of course he was. That applied to me, as well, but that wasn’t a big deal.
What I meant by that was the fact that he was giving his all to survive here in Infinite Dendrogram.
I didn’t know whether he was aware of it or not, but he was actually doing his best to stay alive in this game.
Some players who had played as long as me became like that due to spending lots of time here. There were also people — like the cultists — who didn’t think it was a game from the moment they entered here.
However, he was neither. Despite being a beginner — a rookie — he was more serious about living here than most of the countless players I’d encountered.
That fact had greatly intrigued me, making me believe that watching him would help me discover what I was missing and perhaps even revitalize the Marie sleeping within me. Eventually, after I figured he’d most likely revived, I had started looking for him.
In the process, I had gone through a ridiculous encounter with a battleship-riding furball — the King of Destruction — which had resulted in the complete immolation of Noz Forest.
I had survived that predicament, and I’d soon found Ray and his Embryo, Nemesis, talking to another newbie, Rook. Not missing the opportunity, I had pretended to be a passerby and ended up becoming a member of their party.
By the way, my job back then had always been Death Shadow.
The onmitsu grouping had a passive skill known as “Onmitsu Conceal.” While having an onmitsu grouping job as my main one, it made the job display remove all the onmitsu grouping jobs and replaced the main job with the non-onmitsu job that had the highest level.
That was why the only jobs that showed up for others were Journalist and one other, while the stats appeared lowered, as well. I could choose to turn it off for my party members, but since I was kinda infiltrating Ray’s party, I didn’t do it.
Due to that, the Journalist passive skill “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword” gave me a bit of a problem.
Normally, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, for it would’ve activated the moment I switched to being a Journalist. However, switching my job to one outside the onmitsu grouping would’ve disabled the effect hiding my total level, which was something I definitely didn’t want. Thus, I’d stayed a Death Shadow and opted to fake the skill’s effect by secretly using items that increased EXP gain for a certain amount of time.
It was hard on my wallet, though — 100,000 lir for every 30 minutes. Still, I believed that I had to bite the bullet and just bear having to make these expenses.
...After all, I’d made quite a lot of money from the newbie hunt.
Looking back, though I felt quite guilty about it and thought that I shouldn’t have done it, the fact that I wouldn’t have found Ray if I hadn’t made it a bit complicated.
As our party had gathered and traveled to Gideon, we’d gotten involved in the battle against the goblin horde and their leader — The Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda.
Gardranda had been a very strong UBM.
UBMs all had something talent-like to them. While Gardranda had a lower level than the two UBMs I’d defeated, I had felt that its latent abilities were not to be trifled with.
Its level might’ve been low, but it was still a far stronger creature than the newbies Ray and Rook.
Normally, even Epic-tier UBMs required Masters with high-rank Embryos at their disposal, and even then, their chances of victory would be only about 50%. When facing such creatures, incomplete parties of Masters with low-rank Embryos simply had no chance — no possibility.
Victory could’ve been ours if I’d taken off my disguises and gone all-out, but I’d chosen not to do that. Sure, doing so would’ve revealed who I was, but that definitely wasn’t the primary reason for that. I had wanted to see... to observe how Ray acted in a situation similar to the one in the forest — when faced with a being far stronger than himself.
Thus, I had limited myself only to things that didn’t go beyond the capabilities of a Journalist, making sure not to sully the purity of the actions he took.
He had ended up breaking all my predictions and expectations.
He hadn’t run away.
He hadn’t abandoned people — even if they were tians.
Even when beaten by a power far greater than himself and even when his plans had fallen apart, he had never given up.
Until the very end, he had searched for possibilities and seized the one leading to victory against Gardranda.
Sure, I’d helped him out at the very end, but that was a triviality. Having given his all and used everything at his disposal, Ray had won against Gardranda. The instant I’d seen him stand victorious had actually made my heart throb.
He was as alive in Infinite Dendrogram as he was in the real world.
At that moment, I’d concluded that I wanted to see more of him. As a Journalist, as a manga artist, as Marie, and as myself, I wanted to observe him.
“I’m using the word ‘observe,’ but it’s more that I merely grew fond of him,” I said to myself. In all honesty, I wanted to reveal what I was and apologize for killing him. I wished for us to become friends.
However...
“...Ray and Nemesis’s current goal is to find and defeat me.”
On the way to Gideon and during the party we’d held once we’d arrived, he’d told us of his first death penalty and his intention to win against the one responsible — me. Listening to him had made beads of cold sweat form on my back.
“Revealing myself would probably hamper their determination... and I really don’t want their motivation to go down...” Nemesis’s reaction when she’d believed that I’d been defeated by the King of Destruction made it obvious that they were quite fired up about the prospect of revenge against me. Also, more importantly, I found that Ray was coolest when he gave his all to break through whatever was happening right before his eyes.
Thus, I chose not to interfere with their immediate goal and decided to wait until they became stronger. Then I would appear before them as a mysterious PK, and — just as they desired — face them with all I had.
As such thoughts raced through my mind, I saw the two I was thinking of approaching.
I waved my hand at the now-familiar Master and his Embryo — the people that had me so enchanted.
[MARIE STORY, END.]
Afterword
Bear: “The part after the midword is done, so now it’s time for the afterword! I’m the beary merry Brother Bear!”
Cat: “And I’m Cheshire — the one who didn’t really have any scenes in volume 3 outside of this corneerr!”
Bear: “Man, time sure flies, doesn’t it? We’re already at volume 3!”
Cat: “Thanks to all the support from our dear readers, the novels are coming out smoothly!”
Bear: “I remember when a certain someone at the first meeting said ‘if it doesn’t do well, I hope we get at least 3 volumes before canceling. That should be enough to cover Part 1.’ How nostalgic.”
Cat: “How they expected to fit all that into just 3 volumes is beyond me. As our dear readers can see, even when we got a bigger page number than u
sual, we still ended right as the main event began! There’s no way Part 1 could’ve fit into just 3 voluumes!”
Bear: “Not to mention the fact that Ray bearly had a role in this one.”
Cat: “He chatted, ate, chatted, ate, and then just watched a fight!”
Bear: “And the one doing most of the eating was Nemesis.”
Cat: “I wouldn’t have been surprised if the fang on the cover was shiining.”
Bear: “Anyway, if this had been canceled after 3 volumes, the readers would’ve been in fur a beary summary-like experience.”
Cat: “They might’ve had to cut the entire Figaro vs Xunyu battle.”
Bear: “Or maybe just end it with the labcoat’s appearance and tie it all up with a ‘Our battle begins...!’”
Cat: “That’s not tying up anything!”
Xun: “Gotta thaNk the readers that it didN’T cOme to that, eh?”
Bear/Cat: “...Who’s there?!”
Xun: “Master Jiangshi, Xunyu. Since it’s apparently necEssary, I’m joining tHe afterwords from noW on.”
Cat: “Oh, I see... So you’re saying that I’m about to lose even more of my already-few roles?!”
Xun: “You even got yoUr role cut out oF the manga, diDn’t ya?”
Cat: “Don’t say that! Don’t remind me that I only have a picture of me grinning on the cover!”
Xun: “The manga is beiNg distributed bY Comic Fire, by the wAY.”
Cat: “You even took the advertisement I was supposed to do! First Figaro’s organs, now people’s turns... Just how much of a thief are you?!”
Xun: “Okay, no. The one in chaRge of thieverY in this work is someoNe else, you know?”
Bear: (...Man, Xunyu already seems comfortable here.)
Bear: “You were on stage and in the limelight on this volume’s illustrations, and you feel the same way here, eh, Dhalsim?”
Xun: “What diD you just cAll me?”
Bear: “You fight by stretching your limbs, using fire and teleportation. You’re beary much Dhalsim, from Street Fi—”
Xun: “I don’t do yOga. Also, I’m a womAn.”
Cat: “Well, a jiangshi woman brings up images of a certain other fighting game character!”