Episode 84

Execution (1)
1 week ago
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Finally, the day of the exchange meeting presentation.

They had left the outskirts of the Black Tower’s territory, and the Imperial Tower group had finished all preparations. Now, they were just moving toward the central spire.

Swoosh!

The process was terrifyingly fast. All they had to do was let themselves be carried by the path Jaekiel’s ice created.

Meanwhile, Anes looked at Jaekiel.

“…”

She was just looking, but the image of his past self kept overlapping with him.

Perhaps it was because she had seen such vivid fear.

“Um, Auditor.”

“Why?”

“Aren’t there a total of five princesses in the empire?”

Jaekiel asked back.

“Why do you ask that suddenly?”

Instead of answering, he first asked why she was asking. It meant something had struck him.

“I just wanted to ask.”

“Yes, there are five.”

In the past that Anes had seen, five princesses were saved, but one was taken by the Demon Lord. In other words, there were a total of six princesses.

“…”

Anes continued to look at Jaekiel.

The current Jaekiel was clearly himself, yet he also felt like someone else. The difference from his once passionate self was so vast.

“Um, Auditor.”

“Why?”

“Auditor, did you have a dream in the past?”

“…”

Jaekiel glanced at Anes.

“What’s gotten into you? Asking something unrelated to the mission.”

Anes needed to think of a good excuse.

It was a somewhat difficult task for her, as she had rarely engaged in small talk.

“…Isn’t the journey a bit boring?”

In the end, this was the best excuse she could come up with.

“I didn’t know you were the type to feel bored. I didn’t expect that.”

Jaekiel’s gaze turned forward again.

“A dream… There were times I really wished for one.”

Anes quietly observed his profile.

“But I didn’t have the ability to make those dreams a reality.”

What Anes was looking at were Jaekiel’s blue eyes.

His blue eyes were much duller and faded compared to the past. Anes now realized that it wasn’t alcohol or time that caused this, but regret.

“Then, do you have no dreams now?”

“Not many.”

Jaekiel answered calmly.

“Just, maybe wanting to live a little longer.”

To anyone else, it might sound like a very ordinary wish.

Anes recalled the scene she had witnessed.

─It seems you’ve become terminally ill, so we won’t be meeting again.

…Now she understood.

How desperate that wish must be for Jaekiel.

Just how desperate it must be.

At the same time, how urgent it must feel.

Unconsciously, Anes furrowed her brows.

“Have you ever wanted to quit being an auditor?”

“Well.”

Jaekiel was calm.

“There have been times. It’s a hassle.”

He now put Sun Grass in his mouth instead of a lollipop. Having finished collecting all the data, there was no need to hide his identity any longer.

“Still, there are things I can only get by doing this job. That’s the only reason I do it.”

He exhaled a long puff of smoke.

Anes now found herself concerned about the Sun Grass as well.

She had been curious about the story behind chewing Sun Grass, which was only used in tiny amounts for medical purposes, but she never imagined it was because of a terminal condition.

Just how bad was his health? No, how much longer could he endure?

“You’re one of those things.”

Jaekiel had a faint smile.

“I told you to signal as soon as things got dangerous, but you held on until you were on the brink of death, nosebleed and all. When will I ever get another secretary this incompetent?”

His gaze finally turned to Anes.

“Right?”

…This is bad.

No matter what she did now, Anes could no longer see Jaekiel the way she did before. It was because she had learned about what he had gone through in the past.

Of course, she didn’t know everything about his past, but even knowing just a part of it was enough to affect her this much.

Actually, she was somewhat relieved that she only knew part of it. She didn’t feel confident she could face knowing all of it.

Anes had always lived by following manuals.

She didn’t know anything that wasn’t written in a manual. She had no idea what emotions to feel in this situation, how to act, or what to say.

Should she forget it?

If she could, she would have forgotten. But it was already impossible.

Then, should she feel sympathy?

No, did she even have the right to feel that?

No one could truly understand Jaekiel’s feelings. Only the person himself could grasp the deep emotions pressed down like ashes in his heart.

…Still.

Anes soon made a decision.

“Auditor.”

The desire to be of help to Jaekiel.

It wasn’t a manual, but something deep in her heart that urged her.

“These things you can only get by doing this job; will you continue to be an auditor until you’ve gotten them all?”

“Well.”

Jaekiel murmured.

To Anes, that answer somehow sounded like there was nothing he could be sure of in his life.

“Well, probably.”

“In that case…”

Anes seized on Jaekiel’s words.

“If I faithfully fulfill my role as your secretary, will that help you get what you want?”

“You’re really not yourself today.”

He chewed on the Sun Grass as he looked at Anes.

And the faint smile he showed.

“You’re saying such admirable things.”

It made Anes waver a bit.

“…”

Anes unconsciously turned her head away.

Jaekiel’s smile was hard to face.

How much courage must it take for someone who’s been so deeply wounded to smile even once? At least, she couldn’t understand it.

“Anes, just do what you want to do.”

On the way to the Black Tower.

Things started to click in Anes’s mind.

The one who had suddenly displayed incredible skill in the Tower.

Anes thought she could categorize most people into a manual, but he was someone who didn’t fit into any category. A magician who was always unpredictable.

His abilities and talents were so immense that they couldn’t have been discovered by chance, and he accomplished near-impossible tasks with such ease.

Now that she knew his past, everything made sense.

Suddenly, she remembered how he looked when they first met.

He had seemed like a mere idler, not yet fully out of his stupor.

When everything had been lost, and no hope was left, alcohol must have been the only companion he had. It was a miracle he was even alive.

She finally understood that part of him as well.

“What I want to do…”

Anes murmured those words again.

A man who had never been able to do anything he wanted to do, now advising Anes to do all the things she wanted to. Could there be a more painful statement?

“Oh! I see the spire!”

It was then that Tether shouted, pointing with her finger.

Anes finally lifted her head.

The spire was visible.

The heart of the Black Tower had finally revealed itself.

“What I want to do.”

Now, she thought she knew.

A decent job, a decent life. Anes had thought that if she could live a normal life, that would be enough. She had never wished for anything grand.

Yes, that was why she had never had a grand goal.

But now, maybe.

For the first time, she thought she had one.

Anes chose her words very carefully.

“Let’s smash the Black Tower to pieces.”

Helping to ensure the success of this mission.

For now, that was what Anes wanted.

“What? I didn’t know you could say something so rough.”

Fortunately, Jaekiel smiled.


Ten minutes before the start of the presentation.

Hedera was starting to prepare to watch the presentation.

She was participating purely as an observer. The exchange meeting was a world strictly for magicians—a tradition even a princess couldn’t easily break.

Hedera had no intention of breaking that tradition. Although she held the title of Tower Master, it was true that she had only provided financial support to the Tower.

“Please sit here.”

The guide led Hedera to a VIP seat. It was positioned at a dizzying height, offering a view of the meeting hall below.

“Thank you. You may go.”

Hedera quietly sent her attendant away.

Below, she could see the circular meeting hall.

In fact, it was closer to an arena than a meeting hall, with the audience seated thickly around the central area where the main figures would hold their discussions.

The seats were packed. There wasn’t even a place to step.

“…”

But the structure itself wasn’t important.

The number of spectators wasn’t important either.

What concerned Hedera was something else.

‘…Only the Imperial Tower is still absent.’

The seats for all the other towers were filled, but the Imperial Tower’s seat was still empty.

─The presentation will begin in 5 minutes.

─All Tower representatives, please gather in the center.

Hedera took a quiet, deep breath.

Believing that Jaekiel would surely succeed.

…And to hear the answer after the exchange meeting was over.

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