Setting For Harm-Instant Death, Facing The Terror (1)

Fate sometimes forges inevitability disguised as chance.

―Astrologer Talisman.

After spending the first day of the fifth year partying, and while the others nursed hangovers the next morning, I took the only coherent member—Lee Hyo-ju—out to the garden to register the legion house.

There were many things I hadn’t done in my previous life that I was doing now; registering a legion house was one of them.

“Set legion house Setting.”

『Beginning to set as legion house. Verifying legion registration. Complete. Rebound Legion detected. Measuring buildings owned by Rebound Legion. Marking the territory. Confirm?』

“Yes, confirm……? Huh?”

The blue-marked area extended well beyond the fence.

After I flew up with Fly magic and looked down at the mansion, the blue field was much larger than I expected.

Moreover, blue pillars of light rose at spots across Exorsus, not just around the mansion.

Of course our mansion was included, along with the houses that ringed the fence. After the plague incident, the magic tower’s retainers had lived here, but the range had expanded to include places where people who’d recently lost homes in the east during the Monster Wave were now living.

Perhaps our steward Tess had bought more houses in the meantime—the range was far wider than I’d thought.

Even more surprising, places I hadn’t expected—some noncontiguous—were being registered as legion houses. Blue pillars shot up across Exorsus, linking ground to sky.

Two large, wide pillars rose in the west and east, unlike the scattered smaller ones elsewhere. Judging by location, clusters around the five major magic towers—White, Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth—were being recognized as legion houses.

In the east, vast plots bought en masse now offered homes to those who’d lost theirs in the Monster Wave. Even those lots, practically ruined and little more than empty ground, were included within the territory.

The tiny pillars rising across Exorsus looked almost like a laser show.

“Does it include everything I own?”

『Consult the responsible deity for detailed matters. Marking the territory. Confirm?』

“Yes……”

As always, the system was curt and unhelpful.

“What on earth is that about?”

Those who bear this title will be recognizable as belonging to ‘Rebound’ to continental folk, if not to representatives. It’s a helpful title that spares the trouble of repeatedly announcing affiliation.

“What kind of crap is this……?”

“W-wow!”

While I read the title description in disbelief, Lee Hyo-ju’s awed voice drifted up from below and pulled my attention from the floating message.

She watched the pale blue curtains of light rising around the wall like a child. “Pretty……,” she breathed, eyes wide.

The curtains—named for their blue glow—rose from the ground and descended from the sky to meet in the middle, wrapping the mansion. They genuinely looked beautiful.

When we descended to the garden, she turned to me with sparkling, girlish eyes. “Is the legion house registration complete?”

“Yes. But… it’s wider than I thought.”

Lee Hyo-ju shot me pleading looks, clearly wanting to see it from above. Reluctantly playing princess, I picked her up and flew back up with Fly magic.

“Eek—! Wow! It’s so pretty……! Wow!”

She squealed, calling the blue curtains beautiful as we hovered, and I felt the shimmer of space shift. Hazel’s voice sounded.

“Humans usually refer to something like this as ‘cheating’, don’t they?”

“Huh? Eek!”

Hazel’s utterly nonchalant voice came from right beside us. Lee Hyo-ju, who’d been spinning her head like a kid on a Ferris wheel, startled and flailed. Fortunately my grip was strong enough that she didn’t slip.

Hazel folded space and materialized to my right, feet planted as if on solid ground. “You’re awake?”

“Indeed, companion. More than that, I’d like you to answer my question.”

“When you ask that kind of question you should show your emotions more intensely. Study up.”

“…I see.”

Hazel cracked a joke and then genuinely admired the sight, murmuring “beautiful” in a satisfied tone.

But the legion house Setting wasn’t just for show. The plan was that, within Exorsus, being a member of Rebound Legion should at least protect you from instant death. In other words, within Exorsus, even if betrayal occurred, the legion house Setting would prevent death.

That was another reason I trusted accepting Proy Rium.

And now I began to think the Setting might be easier than expected. We couldn’t buy areas occupied by transcendants, of course, but meeting a few conditions seemed to allow the territory to expand rather quickly.

“What about the other members?”

“They’re still sleeping.”

“What about the two masters?”

“They’re in their usual spots.”

After slowly descending and setting Lee Hyo-ju down—she sulked when our Ferris-wheel ride ended—I headed to the rear training ground where Talis, Bioss, and Jimnas, who’d attended yesterday’s party, were staying.

“Companion! Polygamy doesn’t bother me, but don’t forget I’m the first!” Hazel called behind me as we walked, and I pretended not to hear.

Perhaps drawn by the commotion, a small dragon—the Ja-ryong—flew over and perched above my head.

“Are you doing okay?”

“Kyaa……”

―Don’t talk to me… m-master.

I took the dragon, still suffering a hangover, to Bioss and Talis and explained the legion house Setting.

Violentia nodded when the sudden message appeared. In truth, she had half expected this; she had subtly warned her followers. She thought this was precisely the time to keep her people in order.

She fretted and revised her speech several times that morning, and after approving it she left the mansion to find her personal guards agitated.

‘As I suspected, some are missing,’ she thought.

But the situation was worse than she’d imagined. The representatives gathered under her command—called Moira—numbered less than half of the total.

If anything was fortunate, it was that not a single guard who had fought the Monster Wave was missing.

“And the rest?”

Over eight thousand people—nine thousand if you included representatives crippled by the Monster Wave—were absent. Of the representatives, at most about three thousand had gathered at the Black Tower’s training ground. Violentia’s face hardened.

“…I’m sorry.”

Imoen, who had always followed Violentia closely, fumbled for words and shifted blame onto herself, but Violentia was not Benialis.

“So over half of them cowardly hid like idiots and refused my orders?”

“It’s just that……”

“Damn idiots!”

No pleasant sound escaped Violentia’s mouth. She bit her lower lip and clenched her fists until they trembled, then strode toward the gathered representatives.

As she approached, those assembled rose from their positions. Standing on a makeshift platform, Violentia spoke harshly, every word sharp as spitting dust.

“I’ll give you exactly three days. Tell representatives you know or acquaintances. If they’re not here when we gather in the morning three days from now, they will become our enemies!”

“Yes!”

Her voice was low but charged with mana; it cut clearly into the ears of the three thousand present. The faces of the listening representatives grew hard.

Violentia, the representatives, and the secretaries waiting behind her platform all knew the truth: no one would go searching for the absent representatives.

“You don’t have to track them down. My judgment of those absent today is already the worst. But if there’s a representative you truly must check on, then do so. See you in three days.”

With that, Violentia left the platform without waiting for salutes. She looked down on the fools who hadn’t shown up. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to set her residence herself.

“Residence Setting.”

『Searching for residence Setting. The house W-341 you are currently staying in belongs to Black Tower. Please verify and attempt the Setting again.』

Most representatives staying in inns couldn’t perform residence Setting. Wouldn’t it be safer to gather as many as possible, then? Yet these people hadn’t even obeyed a simple gather order—cowering like frightened pheasants.

“Good. I intended to weed them out anyway.”

The more riffraff she had to manage, the more Violentia regretted overseeing Rebound Legion. If over half the representatives caused trouble at the most crucial moment, she thought she’d rather travel with just 350 guards—but Benialis had far too many people on their side.

“Come down.”

At her command, a red shadow dropped from the empty air in her room. A figure wrapped in dark red cloth knelt on one knee and bowed, waiting for orders.

“How is the Benialis camp?”

“…They are even more chaotic. Benialis itself is full of fear. Reportedly, Tyler won’t even step out of his office.”

Called the Death’s Shadows, these assassins and thieves were reliable informants.

The frown that had creased Violentia’s brow smoothed into a beautiful smile.

“Hoho. How reliably unpredictable that idiot is… Quietly spread a rumor in the Benialis camp that we will enter the Garden of Gods three days from now. Make it subtle, but ensure no one is unaware.”

“Understood.”

“Ah! Before you go, if you have any data, look into how demon god representatives usually behave after the training period ends.”

“……”

The man remained motionless, waiting. A brief silence stretched.

Just as Violentia was about to ask in puzzlement, he answered.

“If you’re asking historically, in terms of statistics, I already know.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

“But… shouldn’t you first receive orders from Serpens?”

The captain of the Death’s Shadows—a man who never hesitated to tell Violentia when things were difficult—cautiously suggested she follow Serpens’s lead.

“…Hmm. That may be, but it never hurts to know more, right? Even if I learn in advance, I won’t refuse Serpens’s orders.”

“For people like us, knowing a lot often means being closer to death…”

Despite his reluctance, Violentia pressed him to speak. Sighing, he gave a brief explanation of a representative’s trajectory after the training period ended.

After the training period ends and before the fifth year is over, representatives must leave Exorsus. Those not chosen by the Heavenly God Amor or the demon god Serpens head to the barren northern lands. When leaving Exorsus for the first time, they must cross the Monster Belt and travel by land.

“…This is generally how it proceeds.”

“Ha! What? Basically you’re saying those bastards who don’t participate now will be beating the ground in regret later?”

A cruel smile flickered at the corner of Violentia’s mouth. She lifted a crystal orb and infused it with mana.

“Oh. Me. Relay this again: those who don’t participate this time will not be accepted again.”

―Yes……. But are you sure? The numerical gap with the Benialis camp may widen.

“Numbers? Ha! Those idiots are irrelevant one way or another. It’s for the best. You’ve checked off everyone who attended today, right?”

―Yes, there’s an attendance list.

“Good. Order each squad leader to broadcast: those who didn’t attend don’t need to come in three days.”

―Understood.

“And contact those we failed to recruit previously, all at once, and set their appointment for the day after entrance into the Garden of Gods.”

―Then that will be about 500 people.

“Good. Tell them there’s extremely important information. That it is truly important.”

She tucked the dimmed crystal into her bosom. After a long time, a cruel smile returned to Violentia’s lips.

“Ah! Right. Captain of the Shadows.”

“Yes.”

“Then Kim Han and that legion will leave Exorsus too?”

“Yes… they will.”

Whether or not that information was correct, Violentia’s eyes shone brighter than ever at the answer.