A Villain's Will to Survive

Chapter 312: Glass Flower (3)

From Hadecaine’s Yukline castle, Yeriel sighed as she looked up at the solitary moon hanging in the dark night sky.

“Are you worried about your brother?” Primien asked.

“No? I was thinking about the future political situation,” Yeriel replied, narrowing her eyes and looking back at Primien.

Yeriel, going over all the political situations—the continent’s state, the rampant spread of the Altar’s revelation, and the nations, one by one, being swayed to its influence—was contemplating the path Yukline should take.

“This time, a suppression order was issued from the New Church, wasn’t it?”

Empress Sophien only forbade the unauthorized publication of the revelation and religious incitement. The phenomenon of territorial inhabitants infatuated with the Altar leaving the Land of Destruction—also known as population outflow—was left to the discretion of their respective territories.

“Forcibly stopping isn’t always the most effective course.”

The Altar suppression order, declared directly by the pope, adopted a very strict stance, threatening excommunication for uncooperative nations. The Empire, Leoc, Yuren, and most other nations on the continent, who had believed in the New Church for generations, would now respond vehemently, and the Scarletborn would naturally be caught in that maelstrom.

“Another witch hunt will begin once more,” Yeriel concluded, as she turned toward Primien.

“Leoc’s gas chamber has been reactivated, I hear,” Primien replied, shrugging.

The Scarletborn concentration camp, a place that had briefly caught its breath after Sophien’s expedition to the desert, was once again in danger of being visited by death.

“But will you be alright? Lately, rumors are circulating in the political world that you, Yeriel, might be a Scarletborn.”

Primien and Yeriel had, a good while ago, already shared with each other the truth that they were Scarletborn.

“Yes, I am alright,” Yeriel replied, looking back at Primien. “More importantly, what is the current situation on your end?”

“Roharlak and its exterior are closely connected. The elimination squad you mentioned is preparing to mobilize.”

“… Good,” Yeriel said, nodding.

This was a grand operation Yeriel had been preparing. Their objective was to mobilize the Scarletborn from within the Roharlak concentration camp to assist Deculein from the shadows, like a hidden force, aiming not only to eliminate key figures of the Altar, but also to assassinate nobles of the Empire for whom clear evidence of cooperation with the Altar existed.

No evidence would remain of that entire process—no, even if evidence were left, there would be no suspects to follow, for once the work was done, they would all be back in the concentration camp.

“Proceed,” Yeriel concluded, crossing her arms.

***

“Hup!”

Yulie was performing chin-ups—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… The rapidly increasing count stopped at one hundred. Immediately after, she dropped from the chin-up bar and began push-ups, while another cadet latched onto the very bar she had just used.

“Why so slow! A snail, perhaps—!”

At that moment, the instructor’s thundering voice rang out, and Yulie immediately finished one hundred push-ups and threw herself into the mud.

Squelch, squelch— Squelch, squelch—

The black mud, rich with mana, was practically swallowing her feet and pulled as if to dislocate her knees, but Yulie sprang forward by thrusting her legs.

“Slow—!”

Nevertheless, at the instructor’s continued insistence on their slowness, Yulie turned her head to look around her surroundings. The cadets’ appearances were dreadful, with one cadet whose eyes were vacant and who was nearly at death’s door entirely swallowed by the mud.

Yulie understood that for them, this ‘hellish training’ had begun immediately after their external drills concluded.

“Move—!”

Yulie made her way through the mud, reaching a steeply inclined wooden wall. It stood over thirty-two feet tall and nearly perpendicular. Since mana was forbidden in this physical training, she gripped the solitary rope and climbed the wall.

Yulie merely relied on the rope as she climbed up thirty-two feet…

“Argh!”

Then Yulie dropped from a height of thirty-two feet, and without revealing the slightest impact to her body, she sprinted toward the instructor.

“… Cadet Number 273. First place,” said the instructor.

The instructors never referred to cadets by their names or their house, but only by numerical designation.

“No shabby case of nepotism, this one.”

“Thank you, sir—!” Yulie shouted, her voice ringing clear.

Immediately after training, Yulie sat alone in the dining hall, forcing down the food, which truthfully tasted better than Freyden’s.

“Hey.”

Clatter—

During her meal, Yulie noticed a cadet placing a meal tray onto the seat next to her. Yulie looked in that direction and it seemed to be a woman with a rather androgynous appearance.

No, is it a man? Yulie thought.

“You said you were from Freyden’s collateral branch, right?” he asked.

“… Yes.”

“Oh, I’m also from the Northern Region. It’s nice to meet you,” he said, his hand reaching out.

Yulie took hold of his hand.

“I’m Quay.”

The given name was quite distinguished.

“Quan, Queng, Quay. Quay, you say?”

Even its pronunciation proved challenging.

“Yes, Quay. And your name?”

Upon inquiry about her name, Yulie showed a brief hesitation.

It would be wise to hide my true name. Yulie isn’t a common name, after all, Yulie thought.

“… I’m Yurie,” Yulie replied.

Yulie’s identification card stated Yurie, and to spare Yulie who was unfamiliar with lying, Josephine had changed her name to a similar appellation.

“Yes, Yurip. But what is this training for—all because of Deculein?”

“Deculein… you mean the Chairman?” Yulie asked.

“Yes, it’s because Deculein is attending that we’re undergoing hellish training.”

“Sigh.”

He sighed, took a mouthful of food, and glanced at Yulie.

“By the way, if you’re from Freyden, you probably don’t know the Empire well, do you?”

“… Pardon? Oh, no. I don’t know it well.”

“Then, good,” Quay replied, extending his hand to Yulie. “Let’s be friends. I’ll introduce you to places all over the Empire.”

Yulie hesitated briefly, but there was no need, as over ten years the Capital had changed too much and she had become unaware of too many things.

“Yes, thank you,” Yulie replied, taking the hand of the cadet named Quay.

***

… The Empress’s selection exam had concluded grading with eight correct responders in total, which was fewer than I had expected, but after excluding one, only seven remained.

However, among them were some rather strange names, while Louina, Ihelm, Sephine, and Epherene were understandable.

But the four professors from the Mage Tower of the Empire, including Relin and Siare, were rather difficult to accept.

“… Did you assist them?” I inquired.

I was seated in the guest chair of the Chairman’s office, watching Quay, the self-proclaimed God, as he gave way to unrestrained yawns.

“Hmm? No. I merely awakened their potential and guided them to a greater understanding. What they achieved up to that point was the professors’ power,” Quay replied, smiling brightly.

“However, should you move around without such restraints?” I said, shaking my head.

“What does it matter? We’ll meet in the end anyway, so it’s better to converse a lot.”

I looked at Quay and, for some reason, he was strangely calm.

“What have you been up to lately?” Quay asked, meeting my eyes and smiling brightly.

I initially had no intention of replying to Quay’s words because I figured he would chatter himself away and leave if treated as if he weren’t there.

“For me, I have come from a meeting with Yulie.”

However, at Quay’s words, the veins on my forehead throbbed. Though I instantly flushed with heat, I put the graded papers into the envelope.

“I am searching for God,” I replied, the graded papers in an envelope securing themselves under my spell.

“… God? Right here?”

Quay pointed to his chest, but it was merely laughable.

“It is not you,” I replied with a chuckle.

“… Then?”

By this point, Quay’s face stiffened slightly, for though he was a God, there was only one God other than him.

“I speak of the primordial God whom you served.”

Quay’s teeth clenched, and his expression turned terrifyingly hard for the first time. I wondered if he thought my words were insulting.

“These are neither empty words nor of contempt. Even at this moment, my thoughts remain upon you, and my mind is engaged in your study,” I continued.

Using Telekinesis, I simultaneously levitated the Altar’s holy book and the Scarletborn’s bible. Though these were forbidden books—possession alone incurred punishment—I knew that to know oneself and one’s enemy is to be invincible, so I used Comprehension to interpret all their contents.

“You, of course, and the Scarletborn’s bible, too, deliver a common prophecy—that God will descend. However, the object of this descent differs.”

“No, they are identical.”

“If they are the same, then the Scarletborn would, by necessity, be of a single accord.”

The Scarletborn were now divided, with some serving the Altar and more than half of the desert Scarletborn considering the Altar an enemy due to differing religious meanings and interpretations of prophecies.

“Quay, the God you served may yet come to meet you,” I concluded.

Then, an aura blazed within Quay’s body for a moment.

“God is dead. You killed Him,” Quay replied, his voice trembling with fury.

“No. God died by His own will, so that humanity could advance,” I replied.

Quay closed his eyes, and a red current swirled around his body as it became a death variable.

“Quay, I believe I even know.”

However, I would not stop for that reason, even if Quay wished to kill me, because there would probably be a reason within me why he ultimately could not kill me.

“The true name of God.”

Fwoooooosh—!

At that moment, Quay’s death variable surged like lightning, but he merely glared at me without inflicting harm, and rather than attacking, the death variable flared and scattered like dust.

“Your words are so sincere that they render me speechless,” Quay replied, forcing a strained smile.

“I speak with sincerity.”

“… I’ll be going now,” Quay said, attempting to leave without listening further to my words.

“I should have realized a little sooner,” I said.

Rising from his seat, Quay’s body suddenly stiffened as he stood with his back to me, his fists clenched.

“If the one who created this world is God.”

If the God who created this world—that is to say, the one who created this game—were indeed God, then…

“Then I already knew that person, from a long time ago.”

I—that was, Kim Woo-Jin—already knew about it.

… Whooooosh.

At that moment, the wind blew, and the autumn chill swept my spine, causing the Chairman’s office curtains to flutter violently, even though the window was not open.

“… Fled, it seems.”

Then, Quay was gone.

“If you lacked the confidence to bear the consequences, you should not have provoked such actions,” I muttered with a sneer at him, no matter where he might be listening.

***

Sylvia, walking through the Imperial University garden while eating a waffle, noticed a group of adventurers approaching her.

Pat, pat, pat, pat—

The adventurers’ light movements, seemingly powered by mana steps, made Sylvia wonder if the time had finally come, as she suppressed the smile on her lips, cleared her throat, and waited for them to arrive.

“Are you Miss Sephine?” the adventurer asked, having quickly approached.

“Yes.”

Sylvia presented her identification card, and the adventurer nodded, handing over the package.

“Here, this is a package from the Imperial Palace. Please open it alone, by all means, in a place where no one else is present.”

“Yes.”

“Any other detailed schedules will be provided separately, with Imperial Palace personnel visiting your mansion to give explanations,” the adventurer concluded.

Pat, pat, pat, pat—

The adventurer went back the way he came, and Sylvia tore open the package to look at its contents.

Empress Instructor Mage Selection Exam Correct Respondent : Sephine

Sylvia only needed to see the title of the package’s contents, and then she tucked everything else back inside the package and walked through the garden, airy and light, until a thought occurred to her and she took out her crystal orb to send a voice to someone.

“Where are you,” Sylvia said.

— I am at the garden bench.

As Sylvia’s first protégé was a knight by background, she answered with noticeable briskness.

“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”

— Yes.

Sylvia walked towards her protégé, then cleared her throat and said, “By the way, have you ever been to the Imperial Palace’s inner walls.”

— … T-The Imperial P-Palace’s inner walls, you say?

The protégé’s voice immediately trembled upon the mention of the Imperial Palace because, for knights, especially the inner walls, it must have been an enormous romantic ideal, and many knights would dream of entering it even once.

“Yes, it seems I’ll have a reason to go to the Imperial Palace this time.”

— Ohh. I-Is that true?

“Therefore, I believe I’ll need an escort knight since I am permitted to bring one additional person besides myself.”

Then, the protégé’s voice abruptly stopped to the extent that she briefly suspected the crystal orb had malfunctioned.

“Where are you now, Mentor Sephine? I will run to you immediately,” Yurie replied, her voice now the most serious in the world.

“I can already see you. Here, a waffle,” Sylvia said, holding up the waffle.

At that moment, Yurie, the protégé sitting on the bench, got up to her feet. Sylvia, watching her, briefly thought to herself, no matter how she considered it, the name, appearance, and even the mana shimmering across her entire body were somehow old.

“… There is something.”

It was not without reason that Sylvia aimed to take her as a protégé, because beyond her talent, Yurie was brimming with something unusual and suspicious.

“What is it, Mentor Sephine?!”

“… It’s nothing. Come, let’s go. I have much to teach you,” Sylvia said, placing the package into her protégé’s arms. “Keep this with you.”

“Yes, Mentor Sephine!”

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