They’re Plotting Something!
I slipped through the gap in the heavy iron door and into the warehouse.
… A cloying, putrid stench that made my nose wrinkle.
It was that distinctive, dangerous smell you get when high concentrations of mana stagnate due to poor ventilation.
Inside the dim warehouse, beneath the feeble light of lanterns, several men were absorbed in their work.
I landed soundlessly atop a ceiling beam and looked down at the scene below.
Hmm. I see.
Those stones they were taking out of the wooden crates, glowing with that venomous red-black light.
I knew them.
Those were Crimson Crystal Mana Stones.
An illegal drug that temporarily boosted mana, but in exchange forced hallucinations so intense they could burn out your brain and corrode your mind.
Rumor had it that once you touched the stuff, you’d never escape the severe addiction. Nasty merchandise.
A nice, obvious crime scene.
But my gaze wasn’t fixed on the stones.
It was drawn instead to two abnormal shadows standing farther back.
One was a burly man with an eyepatch, a massive curved blade strapped to his back.
The other was a blond man dressed in luxurious clothing, elegantly peering into a hand mirror.
I pulled out the Appraisal Monocle and set it over my left eye.
First, the eyepatched giant radiating that dangerous aura.
“… Uwah.”
I almost let out a silent scream.
Level 64.
That was on par with the elite knights at our mansion, Rusker-san and Guork-san. An outright monster.
Why was someone that strong playing guard dog in some dingy warehouse?
I was Level 31 now.
More than double the difference.
If I fought him head-on, I’d be minced in one hit. A guaranteed “you lose” event boss.
Then what about the pretty boy?
I shifted my gaze and looked at the blond man through the lens.
[Lv: 45]… Level 45. Definitely above me too.
But what shocked me wasn’t the number.
It was that I recognized his face.
“… Eh? No way.”
Dogorgon Lagract.
The third prince of this country.
I remembered greeting him once at a royal palace party Father had taken me to.
Tracing the family line, he was technically my “cousin.”
A genuine royal, selling illegal mana stones in a place like this?
No… something was off.
“… Let us begin. For the sake of my dominion.”
Dogorgon closed his hand mirror and declared in a voice thick with intoxication.
At once, the dozen or so subordinates around him shoved the Crimson Crystal Mana Stones into their mouths and began crunching them apart.
“Gah, GAAAAAAAH!!”
“I-It’s hot, it’s HOTTT!!”
They clawed at their throats and collapsed, their eyes rolling back.
Red-black mana erupted from their bodies and was sucked into the magic circle drawn on the floor.
He was using his own men as sacrifices.
… Zzzzzzz…!
The air warped.
From the center of the magic circle, pitch-black darkness like liquid mud overflowed.
It took on a human shape, manifesting as a “shadow” crowned with grotesque horns.
That was… summoning magic?
And not the proper kind. Something far more revolting, classified as heretical sorcery.
A voice that sounded like it echoed from the depths of hell.
“It is I! Dogorgon, third prince of this kingdom!”
The prince spread his arms and shouted with a mad grin.
“Spirit of the ancient ‘Evil Dragon’! Lend me your power! I possess the qualities of a king! Grant me the strength to rule this country… no, the entire world!”
I see.
The third prince with low succession rights was relying on evil power to attempt a coup.
Cliché. But I don’t hate it. Ambition is important, after all.
The shadow creature looked down at Dogorgon with hollow eyes.
[…You desire power? Then prove your worth.]“Worth?”
[Just so. A king must not hesitate to build a mountain of corpses.]With a sweep of its arm, the writhing subordinates were bound by the magic circle’s force.
They had lost their sanity from the mana stone’s side effects, but they were still alive.
Its twisted mouth curled in cruel delight.
[I shall bestow my blessing upon the one who kills with the least “guilt.” Those whose hearts ache and whose hands tremble are unfit to be king.]A guiltless murder.
It would quantify just how cold your heart was, how calmly you could take a life, and decide the most depraved among them.
“Ha. Is that all?”
Dogorgon snorted and drew the saber at his waist.
“I am royalty chosen by fate. The lives of lowly commoners are no different from stones by the roadside… Watch me!”
He thrust his sword into one of the groaning subordinates at his feet.
“GYAAAAAAH!!”
A scream. A spray of blood.
Dogorgon laughed wildly, drenched in crimson.
“HAHAHA! Well!? My heart does not ache in the slightest!”
[… Hoh. Not bad aptitude. However, your pulse has quickened. Proof that you are excited. That means you still recognize “murder” as something special.]The shadow judged him coldly.
“Guh…”
[Is there no other? One more suited to be my vessel, a true fiend?]Silence fell over the warehouse.
The Level 64 man stood with arms crossed, silent. He seemed to be a guard, not someone aiming for a throne.
Up on the beam, I stared blankly.
Wait, what kind of trial is that?
If you can kill without guilt, you get an amazing blessing?
“…………”
I placed a hand over my chest.
Thump, thump, my heart beat steadily.
Guilt?
What’s that? Is it tasty?
This world was the death game Gnosis Online.
When a general player died here, it wasn’t “death.”
It was their one and only return to the real world.
Which meant that if I killed them here, it wasn’t murder.
It was a highly humanitarian volunteer activity, forcefully sending them back to reality, where warm futons awaited, freeing them from an evil AI’s captivity.
They wake up from a nightmare. Happy.
I get a ton of experience points. Happy.
A perfect win-win relationship, right?
Like breathing. Like helping someone.
With the same casual ease as saying “good morning” after waking up, I could mercifully “kill.”
And besides.
I had a mission as the “Savior”, to defeat the final boss and save everyone.
So this?
Wasn’t this basically a bonus stage prepared just for me?
“… Kufufu.”
A laugh slipped out.
There was no way I’d pass this up.
I stood atop the beam and removed the Phantom Mask I’d been wearing.
My hidden silver hair spilled free.
In the darkness of night, porcelain skin and jewel-like eyes were revealed.
I didn’t need the Reaper’s mask anymore.
From here on, it was the exclusive stage of the cutest and strongest Alice-chan.
“... Me, me!”
I raised my hand energetically from atop the beam.
Then I leapt lightly. Using the wind-pressure control of my Sky-Treading Leather Boots, I descended as gently as a feather.
Tap.
“Wha…!?”
Dogorgon’s eyes flew open.
The guard instantly reached for his greatsword.
In the center of a warehouse thick with the stench of blood and viscera, a girl far too adorable for the setting descended.
Clad in a black cloak, holding a skull mask in one hand.
A grim reaper’s eerie outfit, but inside it, an angelically lovely little girl.
I pinched the hem of my cloak like a dress and performed an elegant curtsy.
“Good evening.”
Tilting my head slightly, I fired off my angel-smile beam.
“That ritual you’re having looks like so much fun… would you mind letting me join?”
“… A-a child?”
Dogorgon muttered in disbelief.
The burly guard’s sharp gaze pierced me, but I didn’t flinch.
I turned my sweetest smile toward the shadow monster floating in the air.
“Hey there, Mr. Shadow. I just have to kill without feeling guilt, right?”
[…Indeed. But this is no trial a mere child could endure…]“It’s fine, it’s fine!”
I waved innocently.
Then, calculatingly, I curled my lips into a grin.
I didn’t need a mirror to know.
Right now, I was probably making the most evil, and the cutest, smug face in the entire room.
“Because I’m really good at killing. Just like breathing.”
Now then.
Shall we begin?
The perfect clear of this bonus stage.
What do you think about this chapter?
