Chapter 3. Did I Do Well?

I almost died.

No exaggeration, I really almost died.

If she hadn't grabbed me before I fell…

“Hey, are you okay?”

“……”

Would *you* be okay? I almost died trying to stop someone from jumping to their death.

…But I was also at fault for running full tilt at her, so I didn't blame her any further.

“…If you run at me with mana blazing like that, I have no choice but to dodge.”

“Who the hell tries to kill themselves in someone else's workplace?”

Even if I don't care much about other people, I'm not going to stand idly by and watch someone commit suicide.

And who was acting like they were about to jump at any second?

I rush over there, and she dodges.

The more I think about it, the more pissed I get, but I’ll hold it in.

Nothing good will come from prolonging this conversation.

However.

“Suicide? Who?”

“Are you seriously asking?”

“Yeah. I don’t know.”

Seriously?

I pointed at her.

“Who else? You.”

“…Me?”

At that moment, she tilted her head.

She had a look like she had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.

“Suicide?”

Nod.

“Me?”

Yes.

You.

“…?”

Still doesn't get it?

She just tilted her head without any real response.

“Me? Why?”

“Why are you asking *me* that?”

“……?”

She crossed her arms and fell deep into thought.

What the hell is she thinking?

I couldn't even begin to guess what was going on in her head.

“…Aha.”

After a long silence, she opened her mouth.

She chuckled and the corners of her lips turned up as if something was amusing.

“So you ran over because you didn't want me to die?”

“You just figured that out now?”

“Sorry. I didn’t even think of that.”

As soon as she heard that, her face lit up.

Her mouth slightly agape, she stared blankly at me and then chuckled.

'She's ridiculously pretty.'

It was strange why she was reacting like this, but I wasn't particularly curious.

After today, I wouldn't have to see her again anyway.

But then.

“You didn't want me to die.”

…What?

“Were you worried?”

She walked closer, stopped right in front of me, and smiled sweetly.

Smiled.

Blushing, she smiled….

'Is she crazy?'

The look in her eyes, her voice, something had subtly changed.

I was dumbfounded by the sudden shift in atmosphere.

“Do you need me?”

“No.”

“Then why did you save me?”

“I already told you. This is my workplace.”

Tilt.

She tilted her head.

“Workplace?”

“Yeah, I’m the administrator here.”

She still didn't understand my answer.

Well, of course. An administrator of Blackmore? She'd probably never even considered or heard of such a thing.

“There’s an administrator here?”

“Yeah.”

“Never heard of it.”

“That's probably true. The position was created recently.”

I was starting to get tired of answering her questions.

My patience was wearing thin.

'Well, it seems like I've stopped the suicide attempt for now…'

Still, I needed to send her home and make sure she didn't have any more crazy ideas… But to do that, I needed to find out who she was and where she came from.

'…Who is she?'

I stared at her intently.

Honestly, I had no idea.

There wasn't enough information in the original novel's descriptions to figure out her identity.

“What’s your name?”

“My name?”

“Yeah, we haven’t even introduced ourselves.”

I’ll know as soon as I hear her name.

With that thought, I asked her.

But then.

“Rudine Carlyle.”

Huh.

That sounds familiar.

No, I definitely remember that name.

“Rudine… Carlyle…?”

“You?”

“…Luke Richter.”

Rudine Carlyle.

The second daughter of Count Carlyle, one of the Empire's three guardian families.

And a bastard.

But that was only a part of her story.

I clearly remember.

10 years from now.

What she, hiding within Blackmore, would eventually become.

How could I not?

The Seeds of the End, threats to the continent.

Among them, the third seed, bearing the Heavenly Star of Slaughter.

Which meant.

“Luke Richter…”

She was a villainess.

“…Nice name.”

One that would be called the End of the World.

****

Thump, thump.

Footsteps, neither slow nor fast, approached.

“…”

What’s that?

It sounds like it's getting closer.

“What are you doing?”

“Following you.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“So, why are you following me?”

“Because you’re my benefactor?”

“Benefactor?”

“Yeah. You saved me.”

“What does saving you have to do with following me?”

“Is that important?”

I turned my head and glared at her.

And then I simply said,

“Yeah. It’s important.”

She grinned cheekily and bent at the waist.

She had the expression of a mischievous child.

“I ran away from home.”

She delivered a line straight out of a runaway teen drama.

“You ran away?”

“Yeah. So I have nowhere to go.”

I figured as much.

But what I was asking her was why, out of all the vast lands of the Empire, she was in Blackmore.

“Why here, of all places?”

“I was kicked out.”

“Kicked out?”

Nod.

She nodded with a bright smile.

“I did something wrong. So I was kicked out.“

“To Blackmore?”

“Yeah, to Blackmore.”

No, that doesn't make any sense.

What the hell did she do to get kicked out to Blackmore?

Rudine Carlyle was a catastrophic villainess, later called the Bloody Calamity.

The Heavenly Star of Slaughter she possessed instinctively craved blood and ultimately compelled her to slaughter.

Naturally, her inherent nature was evil.

Her power, by the final chapters of the original story, was among the strongest in the world.

She was also one of the characters recruited by the protagonist later on.

'She seems okay for now, but…'

I looked at her.

She was shorter than me, but I could sense powerful mana emanating from her.

'Something's not right…'

This is strange on so many levels.

She tried to kill herself.

But as far as I know, in the original story, she was definitely alive. That means, at this point in time, she shouldn't be dying.

……Could it be?

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

Swallowing my saliva, I shot back,

“You really tried to kill yourself?”

“Yeah, I did. I was just so miserable and pathetic, I wanted to jump off and die.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She smiled mischievously, her eyes sparkling.

It was a smile devoid of any sincerity.

‘Fuck, what the hell is this?’

A headache came crashing down.

The first person I meet after a few days in this place is an end-game villain… this is a joke, right?

“So, you’re going to keep following me?”

“Yeah. I have nowhere else to go.”

Judging by how she's been acting on her own whim, it doesn’t seem like she has any intention of listening to me.

Moreover, knowing her true identity, I can’t just treat her carelessly.

Realistically, the only place she could stay in the Empire's territory is here in Blackmore.

‘I’m going to keep running into her.’

No, seriously, this is driving me crazy. It would have been better not knowing who she was.

Just then, her voice reached me.

“Do you want me to go away?”

It's a pretty sharp question.

Of course, I didn’t even blink.

“Yeah. It’s uncomfortable.”

I said bluntly, emphasizing it with a tone as firm as it was forceful.

“But I don’t want to go away….”

“How well do you even know me?”

“You saved me.”

“No, why is the conversation going this way?”

My head throbbed. This was a pointless and foolish battle of attrition.

Honestly, her following me isn’t that big of a problem.

The problem is her clear intention behind following me.

Is she following me purely to find a place to stay?

Or does she have some sinister ulterior motive hidden beneath the surface?

‘There’s no way for me to know.’

That being said, there's no need to openly show my dislike. There's no reason to make enemies in a place like this.

Gently.

As kindly as possible.

I dredged up my depleted civil servant spirit and forced a smile.

But before I could even attempt to persuade her.

*Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-gung—*

Along with a vast tremor, the earth began to shake.

“!!!”

I sensed a faint presence beyond the brush. The sound of something brushing against dry branches tickled my ears.

At first, it was just a shadow, but gradually, its form began to reveal itself.

It was something that resembled a wolf.

“…”

*Krrrrrrr—!*

Bright yellow pupils flashed in the darkness, and blood-tinged saliva dripped from between its fangs.

A Phantasmal Species.

And among them, a Demonic Beast Species, boasting particularly ferocious aggression.

*Bang! Bang! Bang—!*

Every time the monster in front of me took a step, explosive sounds erupted.

The dirt floor heaved, and my ears ached from the thunderous cracking sound.

“…Tsk.”

It's not particularly surprising. Given the location, the appearance of a Phantasmal Species isn’t that unusual.

…However, in the case of a Monstrous Beast, due to its ferocity, it’s a clearly harmful species that must be eliminated upon encounter.

I thought I would run into one eventually, but not this quickly.

Thinking so, I turned my head to look at Rudine.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

She was staring blankly at the enemy in front of her.

An apathetic gaze. Eyes so devoid of emotion, it was hard to believe she was even human.

Just as I was about to cautiously call out to her.

“———”

Rudine’s lips twisted violently.

The contortion wasn't a simple smile.

It was a bizarre distortion.

And.

I saw it.

Something welling up within her pitch-black pupils.

“!!!”

It was blood.

Crimson, chilling, dark blood, more than anything else.

It clung to her eyes like spreading bloodstains, slowly undergoing an Eye Opening.

She fiddled with the dagger in her right hand.

And then.

—*Whizz.*

Her raised right hand sliced vertically through the air.

Immediately after.

*Shhk—*

A giant, solid line was drawn vertically in the air, and as if space itself had been split, a fault line appeared as light and darkness misaligned.

“……What is this?”

*Kiiiiiik—!!*

Sparks flew.

Simultaneously, the sound of ripping space filled the air.

The fault line in space, the misaligned light and darkness, began to compress around the drawn line.

And.

“!!!”

*Pshhk—!!*

At the same time, an invisible blade bisected the Monstrous Beast.

No, to be precise, it severed it.

From the crown of its head to the tips of its claws.

It was an impossibly clean, unreal strike.

“……”

Half of the Monstrous Beast’s body slowly slid and collapsed. It was a clean cross-section, as if a sponge had been cut out.

What did I just see?

As I blinked my eyes dumbly.

“How was it?”

Rudine smiled brightly, her face covered in the Monstrous Beast's blood.

It was like—

“Did I do well?”

The innocent smile of a child.