Why Are There Only Crazy People Around Me?

The room I arrived in response to Karon's request.

I sat in a suitable chair, took a cigar and cigar cutter from inside my coat, and placed them on the desk.

"So, then."

Ting.

Toying with a lighter in one hand, I looked at Karon before me.

He probably noticed a hint about my ability—or its true nature—whether he liked it or not back then.

If so, I trusted he wasn't stupid enough not to realize what the cigar and cigar cutter on the desk meant.

"What is it you want to say?"

"..."

Ting.

"First, I would like to apologize for coming to you so late."

Karon bowed deeply without even sitting down, as though he truly felt sorry.

Ting!

The clear sound of the lighter I had been playing with rang through the room at Karon's words.

"I had some preparations to make."

"Preparations..."

Karon did not straighten from his bow. He merely raised his head slightly and stared at me.

There was something I could tell from Karon's words just now.

Karon did not acknowledge me yet.

"..."

Well, if he had intended to lower his tail immediately, he surely would have sworn loyalty to me from the start.

All the better.

Rather than someone spinelessly wavering over whether to do this or that, I preferred people with this kind of backbone.

"All right. If you had preparations to make and came to me only now, I take it you've finished them properly?"

As I said that, I picked up the cigar and cigar cutter from the desk.

Snick.

I cut off the end with the cigar cutter, then pressured Karon in a voice tinged with a faint smile.

Even if I liked his personality, I wasn't softhearted enough to treat someone who was obviously plotting something with kindness.

"Now, first..."

Whoosh.

I slowly began lighting the cigar with the lighter.

It was half a test.

If Karon, who likely knew about my ability, tried to stop me now, I could simply fight him head-on.

But Karon, as though aware of my thoughts, remained bent at the waist and made no move, even now.

"..."

The end of the cigar slowly burning.

Once it had caught enough fire to smoke comfortably, I extinguished the lighter and gave the cigar a slight shake.

"Stand up."

The instant I finished speaking, Karon straightened from his rigid, right-angled bow.

"Explain yourself."

I still hadn't put the cigar in my mouth.

Even if Karon's behavior was suspicious and he hadn't sworn loyalty to me, that alone wasn't reason enough to kill him.

At my question, which held that thought, Karon slowly opened his mouth.

"First, once again, I would like to apologize for making you waste time by coming to you without saying anything, Lord Abel."

His response was completely different from the impression of Karon Mist had given me.

Without his lighthearted voice or clownish behavior, he was offering me nothing but a sincere apology.

"And..."

The corners of Karon's usually smiling mouth began to turn downward.

"I have one request."

"..."

"Would you please grant me the opportunity to witness Lord Abel's power?"

An opportunity to witness my power?

... Hah.

If a knight had made such a request, I would have understood.

I would have assumed he simply wanted to challenge me because he couldn't overcome his competitive spirit, and brushed it off.

But the Karon before me was different.

His face had turned expressionless. Perhaps for that very reason, the eyes that stood out more clearly held not the slightest trace of competitiveness.

"Why should I grant your request?"

I slowly brought the cigar in my left hand to my mouth.

In truth, more than half of the [Dark Shadow] had already recognized me as the heir to the Nebula ducal family.

No matter that Karon was a member of the [Dark Shadow], the majority was always at an advantage over the minority.

In other words, Karon's recognition offered me little practical benefit at this point.

'So you'd better choose your words carefully.'

"Explain."

I still hadn't fully put the cigar in my mouth.

I had merely brought it to my lips.

From this point on, my next action would depend on what choice Karon made.

Whether to kill him or let him live.

Grin.

Amid the heavy air in the room, Karon smiled faintly and opened his mouth.

"First, for some reason I cannot fathom, it seems Lord Abel does not particularly want to kill me."

"..."

I remained silent at Karon's words and stared at him.

"I've been thinking about it."

It was such a rapid change that I wondered whether he was really the same person who had just apologized in that heavy voice.

"Why? Why did Lord Abel leave me alive?"

You had plenty of time to kill me.

Karon said that without relaxing his rigid posture.

"Mercy? Well, that is too abstract a concept, so I would not submit it as the correct answer."

"Fear? If Lord Abel had spared me because he was afraid of killing people, I might have understood. But based on the information I investigated about Lord Abel's past, that does not seem to be the case either."

"Morality? Well, I am not someone who believes in such things. If you really spared me for that reason... I might be a little disappointed."

Karon spoke while changing expressions from moment to moment like a clown.

Eventually, he wiped away his smile and looked at me with an expressionless face.

"So I thought about it. About why you left me alive and gave me so many opportunities like this."

If I had wanted to kill Karon, I could have done so at any time.

Ten days had passed, and Karon had not left the Nebula ducal residence even once.

But I hadn't killed him. It wasn't because I held some grand moral conviction.

I'd abandoned that sort of thing long ago, ever since I was reincarnated into this world and became involved in the underworld.

"You need me, don't you? No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say you need the abilities of a member of the [Dark Shadow], rather than me personally."

"..."

He was right.

An assassin capable of taking down someone at least at the master level.

I placed my annoyance and Karon's usefulness on opposite sides of a scale.

If I killed Karon immediately, things would become much simpler.

But when I considered keeping Karon alive, securing his loyalty, and putting him to use, the scale slowly began to tilt one way.

"You need my abilities right now, Lord Abel. Enough to grant even my troublesome request."

A romance fantasy. An academy. And finally, Saint Ariel.

This world had already begun to move.

If there was a protagonist, then naturally there would be hostile forces determined to make that protagonist's life miserable.

Enemies who caused conflict and inflicted damage, but were ultimately opponents the protagonist could somehow overcome.

The problem was that those enemies probably wouldn't think very highly of me.

"Therefore, I humbly beseech you."

There were exactly two things I needed.

The intelligence network of the Nebula ducal family. And talented individuals loyal to that ducal family.

I wasn't some superhuman from a comic, and I had only one body.

Of course, my ability could cover an area about the size of a huge city, but that was all.

Rather than living an exhausting life with my nerves constantly on edge, it would clearly be easier and save time for me to have capable subordinates and put them to work.

"If you truly require my abilities, I humbly ask that you come to the place I have prepared and show me your power."

... Is this a test?

"Ahaha. Surely not. I saw Lord Abel's strike that day. I am not nearly important enough to test you."

Karon shook his head in denial, as though he truly did not mean anything of the sort.

"It is merely a small curiosity."

Curiosity?

... Even though you nearly died?

I rested the cigar I had raised on top of the ashtray.

If I had made even one mistake in the exchange just now, I had been prepared to attack Karon immediately.

I had already ordered Mist to attack alongside me if I ended up fighting Karon.

Karon probably knew that perfectly well too.

"Why are you doing this?"

It was a genuinely simple question.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Making a decision that could lead to his death over a single bit of curiosity?

An ordinary person would never do such a thing, even if it were only described in words.

It was no different from bungee jumping with a rope that had been half cut through and might snap at any moment.

At my question, Karon answered with a calm expression.

"If I die, then I die, don't I?"

Sometimes there were people like that.

People whose instinct for survival was slightly lacking compared to ordinary people, whether because of a craving for thrills or simple curiosity.

It was a disposition I had encountered on rare occasions while living in the underworld after my reincarnation.

If there was one thing that distinguished the Karon before me from that group, it was probably this.

"If this kills me, then I suppose my time has simply come."

Karon wasn't the sort of person who acted recklessly without considering the consequences.

If he had been the impulsive type I occasionally saw in the underworld, he would probably have challenged me immediately and died.

People with that disposition were often those whose brains had been soaked in the dopamine of the moment rather than concerned with reasons.

They wouldn't have meticulously weighed why I hadn't killed them and what hypotheses explained it, the way Karon did.

Well, for all the grand words, it was simple when put plainly.

Karon was a madman who calmly offered up his own life.

And he was an assassin capable of killing a master, at that.

"So, will you grant my request?"

"..."

The madman smiling in front of me.

The duke was a madman too, and Karon before me was a methodical madman.

The Nebula ducal family was clearly a den filled with madmen.

The only problem was that both of them were so capable that getting rid of them was impossible.

"Haaah..."

Why did I keep getting involved with nothing but madmen like these?

That fundamental thought briefly occurred to me, but I pushed it aside.

Right. Let's look on the bright side.

When leading an organization or a family, someone like this madman would be more necessary than a mere yes-man.

"Lead the way."

***

'...'

Kaizen stared blankly at the spot where Abel had been.

In other words, Abel was giving him the right to challenge for the position of duke if he accepted Abel's proposal?

"Huh..."

A sigh escaped from his bandage-covered face.

A short while later, he looked at Bella, who had now recovered enough to walk around.

"Did you... receive... a similar... proposal?"

"Don't speak; you look like you're in pain. As for the answer to your question, I suppose I can say no."

Bella said that and sighed.

"Haaah... When Abel came to see me, I assumed the worst. Brainwashing or perhaps a slave contract."

In truth, that was the fate of the defeated.

Moreover, considering the Nebula ducal family's notorious reputation, Bella's assumption might actually have been naïve.

"But that man Abel didn't particularly harm me."

In truth, Bella was bewildered.

She had thought that when she woke after passing out, she would be in a cold underground dungeon.

When consciousness returned with that thought in mind, what she saw was herself lying in bed.

An IV connected to one arm to help restore her mana made her realize that Abel had treated her.

Why? Why had he treated me?

Carrying that question, Bella fell into even greater confusion when Abel came to her the next day and told her:

[When Kaizen wakes up, I have something to say to you. Until then, focus on recovering.]

If he had been after her body, she could understand that.

It wasn't something she was proud of, but she was fairly easy on the eyes.

She had the body of a virgin who had never once allowed a man's touch while honing her magic, so perhaps it might have seemed interesting in its own way.

But Abel had been after none of that.

In a situation full of questions, she heard the news that Kaizen had awakened, came to this room with Abel, and listened to his explanation. It was absurd.

What? The right to challenge for the position of duke?

"Haaah... Don't ask me. I don't know either."

She couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

Was he someone with no desire for power?

No, but if that were the case, why had he set up such a massive scheme to seize the ducal position?

Even if he prioritized ability, no ruler would accept a talent who threatened his own position.

"But..."

"..."

"I intend to accept."

Bella said that as she looked at Kaizen, whose body was covered in bandages.

A man brimming with rebelliousness, unlike her, who had given up first that day.

"What will you do?"

"..."

Kaizen maintained his silence in response to Bella's question.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Whatever choice you make."

Bella said that and rose from her seat.

There was no reason for her to take a great interest in Kaizen.

The only thing of value in Bella's life was magic.

Well, now she was somewhat curious about Abel himself, too.

"I'll be going. Ah, but there is one thing I want to say."

"..."

"The way you stood by your convictions was impressive."

She meant that sincerely.

"Then."

Eeeeeek.

Bang.

Kaizen's room, now filled with nothing but silence. Lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, he let out a hollow laugh.

"Kheugh... Ugh..."

Every time he laughed, a tearing pain surged through his lungs, but he couldn't help it.

Bella's words just now.

Yes, she probably had genuinely admired the way he had acted.

But Bella's true meaning was different.

'You were impressive for standing by your convictions?'

Then reject Abel's proposal to remain true to those convictions.

That had to be why she had deliberately left those words just before leaving.

She would accept Abel's proposal.

But you're different from me, aren't you? You're impressive because you didn't submit to Abel's power, so reject his proposal and get lost.

That was the meaning hidden beneath her words.

"Crazy... bastards... bitches."

Abel was crazy for trying to recruit him and Bella by treating the duke's position like a stake in a game,

and Bella was crazy too for accepting it while naturally keeping Kaizen in check.

"Ha..."

Though, of course, Bella was the more irritating one.

Just as he was about to fall asleep again under the influence of the medicine, he thought of Karon, who still had not returned even though quite some time had passed since Bella left.

'...'

Butler Karon, who had brought him to this ducal residence that day.

The man with whom he had fought a battle to the death.

Though he spouted glib words with a sly smile, Kaizen acknowledged the butler's skill, at least.

After all, he was the man who had defended against the [Mana Bullet] Kaizen fired solely to kill Karon.

It was different from Abel devouring the [Mana Bullet] with overwhelming power.

Pure defense.

A barrier, whether magic or an ability, that was maintained over his entire body at all times.

The backlash of breaking through that barrier created a split second, and thanks to it, Karon had barely managed to evade the attack aimed at his carotid artery.

‘Well, it probably doesn't matter.’

With that thought, Kaizen closed his eyes to recover.