Chapter 64

“Don’t tell me, you were trying to help us……?”

At the princess’s question, Bijou shook her head firmly.

“No, he dropped the bottle because he was struggling with me. If I hadn’t stopped him, that young master would have drunk it all right there.”

Bijou sighed and spoke with disgust, her tone very decisive.

Bijou had played a large role in breaking the bottle.

It seemed, just as she said, that the result had been brought about by coincidence.

“……At any rate, I’m glad things worked out.”

After Ren replied.

Growl……

The sound came right from Lapin’s stomach.

Seeing everyone smiling faintly together, the tension seemed to have finally eased.

“……You must all be hungry, so let’s prepare a meal.”

“I’ll check the first-floor door and put a lock on it.”

“Ren, I’ll go with you.”

“Your Highness, I shall accompany you as well.”

Verdi, Ren, and the princess headed out to inspect the first floor of the dining hall.

Curio was watching over the imprisoned Villed in the lounge.

And the remaining people decided to cook.

“Alright! Then, let’s get to work! I’ll be the head chef today, so please follow my lead!”

Haze stepped into the kitchen first and began preparing the food.

“……”

For about two hours, Curio stared at me without taking her eyes off me.

It seemed Verdi had entrusted my watch to Curio in order to focus on controlling the other survivors.

It was pointless suspicion, and a waste of time.

‘They don’t need to be this wary of me.’

Well, anyway……

This much time should be enough.

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair and opened my mouth.

“Do me a favor.”

“……?”

Curio looked puzzled at the fact I spoke first, yet she still did not let her guard down.

“I’ve been locked up for hours—why can’t you take a hint? The toilet, the toilet. It’s urgent, so hurry and let me go.”

Hearing me whine, Curio answered by the book.

“My apologies, Sir Villed. But without Her Highness’s permission, you cannot leave the confinement room.”

“What?”

I replied, irritation in my voice.

“You’re telling me to just sit here? I may be under suspicion, but your courtesy toward a noble is seriously lacking, Lady Curio.”

Curio’s gaze wavered.

“Ah, this should be interesting. Once my innocence is proven, we’ll see. And let’s add to that the insult to my dignity.”

As I smiled, Curio let out a belated sigh.

After a brief silence, she finally rose from her seat.

“……Very well. But you had better not try anything foolish. Lead the way.”

That’s more like it.

Just as Curio wanted, I obediently walked down the hall ahead of her.

When I opened the men’s restroom door, Curio followed me inside.

How far did she plan to follow?

I stopped walking for a moment.

“Hey, Lady Curio.”

I shot her a cold look.

“Do you have some strange fetish about sticking close while someone’s doing their business?”

“……Ha.”

Curio went beyond seriousness, looking at me with an expression of sheer exasperation.

“I’ll wait outside. Don’t try anything stupid.”

“You’re suspicious to a fault. Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”

Curio sighed again and then left the bathroom.

Once I confirmed it, I went into a stall.

‘First, let’s get rid of these damned cuffs.’

I opened my subspace.

A few days ago, I had run an experiment.

What would happen if I put part of my body into the subspace?

Would my body get torn in and stored when the subspace closed?

I had grown my pinky nail long and piled chalk powder on top of it.

Then, placing the nail in the subspace, I shut it.

In conclusion, the nail was fine.

Only the chalk powder had been stored inside the subspace.

‘So not even the smallest part of my body gets stored in it.’

After that, I tried another experiment, wearing a ring on my pinky and putting it into the subspace.

My finger remained intact, and only the ring was stored.

‘Then this should work the same.’

I shoved both arms into the subspace.

In the darkness, the metal cuffs glimmered faintly.

‘……As expected.’

I closed the subspace like that.

Clang!

With the faint sound of metal clashing.

The cuffs that had bound my wrists disappeared in an instant.

They had been sucked straight into the subspace.

I rotated my wrists, lost in thought.

‘What a relief.’

Now that I had regained freedom, should I run away?

……No, impossible.

Verdi and Curio would immediately chase me down.

So I planned to prepare a substitute who would be confined in my stead.

‘Shurk.’

At my call in my mind, a magic circle formed in the air.

Then, with a “poof!” a large white dog wearing a flower crown appeared.

Woof, woof!

“Shh, shh. I know, calm down.”

Shurk had a habit of showing joy too violently whenever he saw me.

While working to calm him down, I whispered quietly.

“Shurk, sorry, but you’ll have to be the one watched in my place.”

I took out a pair of handcuffs from subspace and put them on Shurk’s front paw.

Unlike a human’s, a dog’s paw went in very easily.

“Now try transforming into my appearance.”

I realized this after experiencing Boogie’s ability not long ago.

Was it proof that I and the spirit beasts had grown?

At some point, each spirit beast had been given a special ability.

The summoned Shurk had the ability to change his appearance.

In other words, he could become my doppelgänger.

Pop!

With a small sound, I looked at Shurk’s changed form.

The Yggdrasil school uniform and disheveled dark blue hair.

Snow-white skin.

Eyes that seemed to reveal the role of a villain.

It was unmistakably Villed, but……

“Woof!”

“C-cough!”

I tried to erase the sound by clearing my throat.

“Hey, I told you to stay quiet.”

“Pant, pant……”

“……You really look like a dog.”

To face Villed sticking out his tongue with a grin, panting in a dog’s pose, was truly astonishing.

I decided it would be too much to let him become my stand-in like this.

I looked into his eyes and opened my mouth.

“Shurk, first shut your mouth. Copy my expression.”

“……”

Like an actor, the smile vanished from his face in an instant.

“Now your face finally looks a bit like mine.”

……Of course, the dog-like pose still made it impossible to erase the sense of strangeness completely.

When I explained to Shurk how to sit like a human, he followed my instructions exactly.

He sat on the toilet seat in a slightly tired and arrogant posture.

His mouth was closed, and his gaze looked sharp and cold.

At last, there stood someone who could perfectly be called Villed.

“Shurk, no matter who talks to you, never answer. Don’t even react. Got it?”

“……”

“Whew, good job. That’s it.”

I was genuinely impressed by how naturally Shurk copied me.

As I patted his head, a strange feeling came over me, and I quickly withdrew my hand.

“I’ll come pick you up later. You have to stay quiet and behave until then.”

“……”

“Alright, go on.”

Shurk stood up as I ordered and walked out of the bathroom.

I pressed my ear to the door.

A small voice reached me.

“You took quite a while. Are you finished with your business?”

“……”

“Then please follow me.”

It seemed Curio hadn’t noticed the stand-in.

Moreover, with that level of acting skill, I could rest assured.

‘Guess it’s time for me to move as well.’

I grasped a card in midair.

Whoosh! In an instant, darkness swallowed me whole.

A black mask covered my face, and my coat turned jet black.

‘I’ll need to keep using this ability for now.’

Using Shurk’s ability to conceal my appearance was essential.

‘Now the skills I can use are quite limited.’

Since I summoned Shurk as my stand-in, my maximum cost was reduced by 2.

On top of that, using Shurk’s ability consumed 3 more costs.

My available costs were reduced even further.

‘In the end, the only cost I have left is just one.’

I couldn’t use Hwayo’s ability at all, and I could only rely on Boogie’s ability, which required 1 cost.

Although it was a restriction that sealed off my main offensive skill, it didn’t matter.

‘Because I can use this instead.’

Clang. A sharp sound rang as metal clashed.

I reached into subspace and pulled something out.

‘I only made this as a test.’

Titanium Sword.

Since I had made it myself, its estimated production grade was Grandmaster level.

Despite possessing higher durability than steel, it was much lighter.

‘It was the right call not to sell it and to store it in subspace.’

It was to broaden my options.

As someone who liked insurance, I had tossed all sorts of things into subspace without much thought.

The titanium sword was one of them.

‘It’ll be a fine substitute.’

If I used the Heart of Ilawne as a weapon, it would be the same as revealing I was Villed.

So I needed to replace it with another weapon.

‘……That aside. I haven’t tested this yet.’

When I used Shurk’s ability, my speed often became faster.

‘And something has changed.’

As I gripped the sword, a transformation occurred.

Darkness quickly swallowed the blade, turning it black.

A black aura appeared around it as well.

‘It was already a good weapon for being so light.’

How would it perform now?

I swung it through the air as a test.

‘……Huh.’

Not even a small sound could be heard.

In the wake of the blade, a black afterimage lingered and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The speed was such that one couldn’t even tell it had been swung.

Even though I usually trained my body and practiced sword swings.

I had never reached this level of speed before.

‘This is quite the broken ability.’

Once again realizing it was thanks to Shurk’s power, I stored the sword back in subspace.

‘……Perfect.’

Any other cadet would be terrified to face a horde of ghouls head-on.

But thanks to the influence on my body, my mind wouldn’t be shaken.

I confirmed that I now had the basic combat abilities needed to clear this episode.

‘Since the time is near, I should head up to the rooftop first.’

I stepped on the window frame and leapt high.

Landing atop a nearby tall building, I looked down below.

‘Disgustingly many of them…….’

A legion of ghouls.

In the game, this was called a “wave.”

‘There are a total of three waves to block.’

The first wave was already approaching this building.

With Ren, Verdi, and Curio, this wave wouldn’t be too hard to stop.

‘Though it’ll be tough for them, I don’t need to intervene for this wave.’

I focused my gaze far into the distance, toward the main building.

Something started to come into sight.

From the direction of the main building, something was swarming like ants.

That was the second wave.

Unlike ordinary ghouls, there were long-legged or muscular ones, and other unusual forms, making this section a sudden difficulty spike.

‘But…… were there always this many?’

It was far beyond my expectations, which made me a bit suspicious, but it didn’t matter.

‘Whatever the case, I need to reduce their numbers as much as possible before they reach the building.’

If left as they were, they would destroy not only the doors of the building but even the barricades.

‘Do the ones inside the building even realize I’m going through all this trouble?’

Of course, I wasn’t doing it expecting recognition.

‘For now, let’s go.’

Like performing parkour, I leapt across to a nearby building and moved toward the ghoul army.

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