Chapter 326: The Demon King Does Not Need To Be Defeated
10-13 minutes
Chapter 326: [Beatrice]
“This…”
Faced with the sight before him, Shien, who had been standing there and watching with a grin was stupefied.
Especially since the spray of blood, the sound of corpses hitting the ground, and the carpet slowly being dyed red all told Shien that he wasn’t dreaming.
“No way…”
Shien never imagined that something like that would happen, so he was completely stunned.
Merciful gods, although he did intend on stopping those people from leaving, he never actually intended on doing anything to them.
After all, Shien’s [Enemy Detection] skill had no reactions whatsoever. It was only his [Magic Detection] that reacted, which allowed Shien to notice their existences. Thus, it also let Shien know that although those people had probably sneaked into this suit for some reason, that reason wasn’t actually to harm him.
That’s why Shien just wanted to catch these people and properly interrogate them as to their motives, but he didn’t actually want to kill them.
Yet, the result is that they all committed suicide. Thus, how could Shien not be stupefied and stunned?
Thus, Shien hurried up to them to check on their conditions.
Unfortunately, all four of them had died with a single strike, basically dying instantly on the spot without the slightest bit of struggle or any chance of a lucky survivor.
“The fuck…”
Shien didn’t even know what to say anymore.
Although it’s not like his own hands were clean of blood, and in fact, he had even personally annihilated near half of the National Knight Order, but Shien personally had never slain an innocent. He had only killed those who were his enemies.
But what about now?
Has his hands now been forcefully tainted with the blood of innocents now?
“They really are harsh on themselves…”
Shien thus stood up with an obviously unhappy expression on his face.
However, at this moment, a voice rang out from behind Shien.
“They were simply unable to refuse their master’s orders, that’s all.”
A calm and indifferent voice entered Shien’s ears, making Shien turn around and look behind him.
There, Lasha had mysterious appeared out of nowher as always and was standing out in the living room. She was even still holding a sack by her hands.
“You said something about them being unable to disobey their master?”
Shien was stunned for a moment by that statement from Lasha.
“Indeed.” Lasha nodded as she spoke, “If I’m not mistaken, then they aren’t actually humans, but rather homunculi just like me.”
“Homunculi?” Shien understood right away as he replied, “You mean that the person who created these homunculi had ordered them to sneak in here and even gave them orders to the effect that if they were discovered and are unable to escape, that they should commit suicide on the spot?”
“Most likely.” Lasha confirmed Shien’s guess as she spoke calmly, “That’s why they committed suicide without any hesitation. It’s because, for us homunculi, the master’s orders are everything. They cannot be disobeyed, nor would we even try to disobey.”
In response to that, Shien started frowning.
If that really is the case then, just who was the person who sent these homunculi here?
Just what is the goal of the mastermind behind all this?
As Shien considered those questions, he also turned to look at Lasha.
More accurately speaking, he was looking at the cloth sack that Lasha had with her.
“What’s that?”
Shien asked out of curiousity.
“It’s what they left behind.” Lasha gave the dead homunculi on the ground a glance before coldly stating, “They seemed to have specifically placed this item here. Given that it may be something dangerous, I first examined it while Mister Shien was dealing with them.”
… So you actually did something in such a short amount of time without me even being able to notice, huh?
Well, whatever. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened.
Anyways, let’s just leave it as Lasha being amazing.
“So what is this then?”
Shien turned his attention on the sack in Lasha’s arms.
From that sack, Shien could feel a faint bit of magic power.
“Is it some kind of magic item? Or magic weapon?”
That’s what Shien thought.
However, Lasha had a rather strange expression in response to his questions.
“Perhaps Mister Shien should see for yourself.”
Lasha thus handed the sack over to Shien.
Shien accepted it before then freezing for a moment.
Why does he fell like the sack is kind of warm and soft?
Shien started feeling up the sack all over with a confused expression on his face.
The next second, Shien wasn’t sure what exactly he touched but a voice rang out from within the sack.
“Hau…”
A tiny moan came out from within the sak.
Shien froze on the spot.
Lasha went completely silent as well.
The atmosphere within the room turned rather strange then.
Of course, what was the strangest was Shien’s face right now. The corner of his mouth was continuously twitching.
“… I misheard that, right?”
Shien kind of didn’t want to face a certain reality.
Lasha didn’t say a word in response to that.
It can’t be helped. Her temporary master seems to like running away from reality the most, so as a mere helpless maid, there’s no way that Lasha would dare to speak out or ask anything. All she can do is just quietly watch from the side.
As for Shien, he pressed down with his hand again in what seemed to be an attempt at convincing himself of his little escape from reality.
“Hau… Kya...”
For a moment, all kinds of squealing constantly rang out from the sack, viciously slapping Shien away from his attempt at self delusion.
Thus, Shien once again fell silent. He also stopped what his hands were doing.
The next moment, Shien suddenly burst into motion and tore open that sack.
The content of said sack was thus revealed before everyone’s eyes.
It was a girl.
A very young girl whose looked about Airi’s age in appearance. A very cute girl at that.
The girl was wearing a black and white goth loli dress. Her limbs were thin and her figure petite. However, she also had long, straight hair that was in a very eye-catching, sunny, gold color. They looked soft and quite elegant on her.
Her eyes were a light violet that shone like crystals. Her flawless face was as pretty as a doll’s, but also very tiny, lacking in baby fat.
Such a girl who was like a little princess out of a fairy tale had appeared from within the sack and was currently being held by Shien.
Only, the girl wasn’t unconscious. Instead, her eyes were wide open and were staring at Shien.
“…”
Shien completely lost the capacity for speech.
“…”
Airi didn’t even know just how to describe what she’s seeing now.
Only Lasha spoke up in a very calm tone.
“When I discovered the sack and opened it up, she seemed to have already been awake then. However, she didn’t make any noise at all, nor did she do anything. She was so peaceful that she didn’t seem like a child at all, and in fact, one can even say that she’s so peaceful that she didn’t seem like a normal human.
… So therefore you just packed her up again and then handed her to me?
Should I be praising you or rebuking you here?
Shien didn’t even know what exactly he’s feeling right now.
Yet, the girl was just as Lasha had described. She didn’t make any noises or do anything. She was just quietly watching Shien, something that everyone found quite strange.
This strange situation had thus descended upon Shien just like that.
“Sigh…”
Airi let out a sigh before speaking up in an annoyed tone.
“Anyways, let’s at least first clean this place up.”
…
About five minutes later, the corpses and blood in the room had been completely cleaned up. Even the carpet was switched for a new one. Thus, the room returned to its original condition, as if nothing had happened here at all.
All this was single-handedly done by Lasha. Just how that was accomplished was a completely mystery though.
Shien didn’t even know just what Lasha did with those corpses. Nor did he have any idea just where she found a completely identical carpet to replace the old one with. However, none of those things were important now.
What was important was how they should deal with the situation before them.
Out in the living room, the cute, obedient, and doll-like girl was placed on the couch by Shien. She simply sat there quietly.
Rather, she’s overly quiet here, to the point where everyone felt it strange.
The girl acted like nothing mattered to her at all. She paid no attention to everything that had happened to her. She simply quietly looked at Shien before quietly looking at Airi and then quietly looking at Lasha. Her violet crystal-like eyes flashed and blinked here and there. It really was quite cute all told.
Shien, Airi, and Lasha all exchanged a glance before turning to the young girl before them.
“Hello.”
Shien attempted to make conversation with the girl.
The girl didn’t reply. She simply focused her gaze onto Shien.
“Um… Can you speak?”
Shien hesitated for a moment before asking such a question.
The girl still didn’t reply. She simply continued to stare at Shien.
“Cough…”
Shien attempted to communicate several times but was completely ignored. Thus, he found the whole matter difficult and started glancing at the other two next to him for aid.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know how to talk to kids.”
Airi immediately and mercilessly shattered Shien’s request for help.
“… I only know how to perfectly receive and treat with guests.”
Lasha also signaled in such a way after a brief silence.
Shien had no words.
Here he thought that the both of them were really awesome or perfect, but it looks like it was just him overestimating them.
So this was their weakness, huh?
Shien started wondering in his mind.
However, at the same time, Shien also started suspecting something else.
“It can’t be that this child just can’t speak at all, right?”
Shien started looking questioning at the girl.
The girl wasn’t afraid at all. Instead, she met Shien’s eyes without wavering. In fact, it was as if she was trying to figure out just what kind of person Shien was, as well as trying to observe just how Shien will treat her.
Shien could see signs of intelligence from her eyes too, so it should be possible to communicate with her then, right?
In that case then…
“My name is Shien. What about you?”
Shien tried again.
However, the girl continued to stay silent, not saying a word.
“Alright.”
Shien gave up.
Just as Shien was thinking that the girl really can’t talk, a small voice suddenly rang out.
“Beatrice.”
The girl suddenly speaking out in a lyrical, songbird like voice.
“Beatrice… My name…”
The girl had opened her mouth.