Chapter 147: The Previous Generation Was a Good Person

Roderick doesn’t understand politics.

Roderick is simply a survivalist.

He has lived going deep into nature, hunting and playing with hounds.

Therefore, he is more sensitive than most to danger.

Roderick, who had been staying as a guest at the Stuart mansion in the Chengdu Concession, had been kept at the mansion for two months for various reasons.

The things he did were limited to things like being a conversation partner for Ainsel-san, teaching core training, and how to identify dangerous monsters, but to Ainsel’s father Arthur, that seemed to be important.

Strictly speaking, it was keeping his daughter and Roderick together.

Arthur was still wary of assassination. Moreover, betrayal from within his own household.

He was so cautious that he didn’t even fully trust the guard golem placed by the Blue Witch, an old acquaintance, and seemed to have decided that the only ones he could truly trust were himself, his daughter, and Roderick, who had the fact of having saved his daughter.

Ainsel-san seemed to think that the betrayers were only the forces that had betrayed during the airship assassination incident, but Arthur was more cautious. He believed that a mastermind connected to the British mainland was still lurking.

That could be a maid, a butler, a relative, or a visiting merchant. Anyone was possible.

“Divide and rule” is Britain’s national policy. Rather than visible external enemies, internal division should be guarded against.

However, Roderick couldn’t even hide his feelings enough to deceive a young girl.

He was unsuited for undercover missions to find lurking betrayers, and as a guest of the Stuart family, he spent his days not fully understanding the situation that seemed to be moving beneath the surface.

Feeling the tense atmosphere on his skin, counting restless nights.

The incident occurred the moment Ainsel-san, who had reached her limit of patience after being forced into a confinement-like restrictive surveillance life for two months, shook off her surveillance.

She was nearly assassinated once again.

If the four-dimensional disappearance range had shifted by just 1 meter more, Ainsel-san would have died.

It was a grave situation.

As expected, there were still betrayers. Betrayers lurking skillfully.

Roderick was urgently summoned by Arthur, and held a short secret discussion with the Blue Witch.

After various consultations, he saw off the witch party’s hurried departure… several hours later.

The moment the sun set behind the mountains, the situation changed drastically.

The Stuart family’s exclusive guard mutant, Yvette, revealed her true nature.

The person who should serve and protect the household was the mastermind behind everything.

In the study illuminated by the dim light of gas lamps, shielding her father who had been put to sleep by magic, Ainsel glared at the betrayer.

Meanwhile, Roderick accurately grasped the power relationship between them, calculating survival rates while quietly pinching the back of Ainsel’s dress and stepping back one step. It was an all too modest resistance, but that single step of distance could sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

The mutant Yvette was a woman of the night. Literally.

She had a pitch-black form as if the dark night itself had taken human shape, her body’s outline blurring in the gas lamp’s light and swaying despite the absence of wind.

The white eyes in the position of both eyes were like the moon quietly floating in the night sky.

Yvette turned the tip of her staff, which had been pointed at Arthur, toward Ainsel.

Ainsel gripped the Scepter Beifang so hard her fingers turned white, and despite being overwhelmed, firmly faced the overwhelmingly powerful foe and spoke sharply.

“Would you kindly not approach any further? You fucking bitch.”

“So it seems that when Asian blood enters, one’s manner of speaking deteriorates. It is unbecoming of the proud Stuart family.”

Hearing the politely rude British English, his spine tingled.

An overwhelming sense of intimidation surpassing A-class monsters appealed to Roderick’s instincts to flee immediately.

However, he didn’t think he could escape.

“It was not Yvette who taught me noble pride!”

“Yes, yes. I too believed at first. That half noble blood flowed through your veins. But as you grew, you came to resemble that woman. Though your face resembles Lord Arthur, your gestures, your laugh, became vulgar.”

“Yvette, you…!”

“Those rebellious eyes too, Ainsel. Lamentably, your nobility has lost to base blood. The stain must be washed away.”

The triumphant woman of the night took a short breath. Sensing that the next words to be uttered would be a fatal curse, Roderick interjected from the side.

“Why didn’t you do this from the beginning? As a mutant, you could have done it anytime, any way you wanted.”

“…You truly have no luck. If you hadn’t been present, I would have let you go.

If the loyal retainer knew he had killed his daughter, Lord Arthur would grieve. I am the only one who can support Lord Arthur’s heart after losing his wife and child.”

Hearing Yvette’s words, intoxicated with self-centered superiority, even Roderick, who was dull to this kind of intrigue, understood Yvette’s motive.

Come to think of it, Arthur had not been targeted throughout the series of disturbances.

If Britain wanted to replace the head of the Chengdu Concession, it would have been most convenient to kill the head of the household and send in a new person, yet.

The target had always been Ainsel alone. Yvette had been pulling strings from behind while playing innocent.

Ainsel, holding the scepter, asked with the dignity of a queen questioning her subject.

“Yvette. This is truly your own will, is it not?”

“Yes. How miserable until the moment of death, Ainsel. Choose either to beg for your life or silently offer your neck.”

“Oh! Indeed that is so. How improper of me, to converse with the fucking bitch who killed my mother. I have no manners. Then excuse me. Frozen Throwing Spear Du Vaaler!”

Strangely, the ice spear incantation was heard from two places: beside and behind Roderick.

Yvette, who had effortlessly caught and deflected the ice spear Ainsel released on her body surface, was blown away by a powerful ice spear flying in from outside through the study window without a moment’s delay, crashing into the wall with a thunderous sound.

Dust fell pattering from the ceiling, telling of an abnormal power far beyond ordinary humans.

Turning around, the Blue Witch fluttered in through the destroyed window.

“Good magic, Ainsel.”

The Blue Witch stroked Ainsel’s head and smiled, standing before the two.

Warm relief spread through Roderick’s chest.

It had been planned to pretend to depart to put Yvette off guard and then return, but her presence was so undetectable that he hadn’t been able to confirm she had really come back.

Now he was certain.

Yvette was finished.

The Blue Witch, the world’s strongest shield, the world’s sharpest spear, and also executioner, looked down coldly at Yvette and spat out.

“Caught in the act, Yvette. Confession of using magic against the head of the household. You can no longer talk your way out of this.”

“…I see. It seems I’ve been caught in a trap. But Blue Witch, you stand in the wrong place, don’t you? If you are an old acquaintance of Lord Arthur, you should understand. If you are Lord Arthur’s friend, you should correct your friend’s mistakes. Let us consider the earlier attack an unfortunate misunderstanding. Now, bring Ainsel here.”

“Barking noisily. In short, it’s all resentment from being rejected by Arthur, isn’t it? Ugly woman.”

Being sneered at, Yvette was clearly irritated.

“Asians cannot understand British noble pride or duty, can they. So? What do you intend to do with me? Why did you wait until night? I am—”

“Immortal during the night, right? I know.”

The Blue Witch murmured that the Night Witch had been like that.

Ainsel also had a matter-of-fact face, and Arthur, leaning against the bookshelf in a sleep state, probably knew too.

Only Roderick was unaware.

Even as he was increasingly made aware that he was in a place where he didn’t belong, the conversation between absolutes progressed.

“Powerful regenerative ability limited to night. Enhanced sensory physical abilities. Magic resistance. Rapid magical power recovery. If you were to do something, it would be at night. Because you couldn’t take such an attitude toward me during the day?”

“If you understand, then step aside. Even the Blue Witch cannot fight me now and escape unharmed? I will never harm Lord Arthur. I will simply kill Ainsel and be done, so come.”

“Stop chirping. I’m thinking of the way to kill you that would make you suffer the most.”

With an appearance of truly deep contemplation, the Blue Witch swayed the tip of Kyanos pointed at Yvette.

To the Blue Witch, Ainsel, gripping Roderick’s sleeve tightly, spoke.

“If you could restrain her, I will judge her according to the law in my name, Lady Blue Witch.”

“…She killed your mother. You want to let her stinking breath continue even for a second?”

“That is true. But I know that Lady Blue Witch is a gentle person who does not like to take human lives.”

“Huh. Gentle?”

Roderick’s raw question was ignored by everyone.

“At least, please let me bear the responsibility of the decision. It was I who decided to execute Yvette.”

“Hmph. A child need not make such considerations. But I like Ainsel like that.”

The Blue Witch gently combed Ainsel’s hair with her hand, murmured “Now then,” and pointed her free hand, the one not holding the staff, at Yvette.

Yvette tried to do something by writhing the night that formed her body, but froze in shock.

“! What is this? My magic power has solidified…!?”

“Fly through the sky, breathe fire, lizards too are dragons Naz Nazg Enyenshoa.”

The Blue Witch chanted incantations while discarding her robe.

Then, with a sound like a balloon bursting and white smoke, a bluish-black dragon manifested, grabbed the flustered Yvette with its forelegs, broke through the study causing it to be half-destroyed, and flew off into the night sky.

The black giant form wrapped in a storm disappeared beyond the starry sky in an instant.

The cold night air caressed his cheek, and in the distance, in the shadows, he could see maids holding lanterns and peering fearfully.

Roderick gave the maids a thumbs up, and finally relaxed his shoulders.

Strength seemed to drain from his waist too, but for Ainsel’s sake, he put on a brave face and cracked a joke.

“Is this the daily life of noble society? It’s more dangerous than survival.”

“It’s just a different kind of danger. You will get used to it eventually, Lord Roderick.”

“Wait. I’m going back to America, right? If the source of the family strife is gone, I’m no longer needed.”

“Hehe, Lord Roderick is so good at jokes.”

The young lady with a heart of steel laughed merrily, seemingly having forgotten the tension of just having crossed the line between life and death.

Ainsel was mobbed by pale-faced maids who rushed over, along with her father, and was carried to a safe place.

Following behind, Roderick felt a sense of crisis unlike any he had experienced before.

As if the outer moat was being filled in… as if he was being surrounded…

Roderick tilted his head, not understanding politics.

He could not have known what Ainsel and Arthur were truly thinking in trying to keep him here.

While Roderick was considering what to do with himself, the Blue Witch, transformed into a dragon, held Yvette in a talon grip and raced through the starry sky like a shooting star.

Her high-speed flight using self-strengthening magic was breaking the sound barrier.

Layers of air became shock waves, striking Yvette held in the forelegs, and the night that formed her body flapped.

With her magic power sealed, Yvette could not match the dragon’s strength with her raw physical abilities alone, and sulked as she was carried quietly.

“Ha. Do you intend to keep flying until morning? I won’t die from falling, and surely it would be faster to break this seal than to wait for morning?”

“I’m glad you’re an idiot. Are you okay? Do you have the intelligence to regret before dying?”

Even with her magic power sealed, her regenerative ability was still intact. Depending on the scale, her powerful regenerative ability that could restore her from explosions caused by magic rampage had given Yvette excessive confidence.

To the words of the embodiment of night who believed in her own superiority without doubt, the Blue Witch had been responding with nothing but sarcasm.

Completely hated, Yvette sighed and was forced to fly through the night, not understanding the meaning, when she saw something that made her eyes doubt.

The calculations didn’t add up.

The sun had only recently set. It should have only just become night.

But certainly, the sky beyond was gradually growing lighter.

It was not a mistake.

Less than an hour had passed since sunset, yet the sun was beginning to rise at an impossible speed.

Dawn was approaching.

Was she being shown an illusion?

The confused Yvette suddenly noticed.

The direction the Blue Witch was flying.

“N-no way…!”

“You noticed? Is this your first time seeing the sunset rise? It’s your last look, so be grateful and worship it.”

The Blue Witch was flying west faster than the Earth’s rotation speed.

The earth far below flowed past like a stream, crossing several countries, time changing.

The dark night rewound, and a beautiful reddish-purple twilight arrived.

The night was ending.

Yvette panicked and screamed, struggling desperately.

“S-stop! Let me go, let go, you, let go!”

“So you do hate the sun after all. That’s good.”

The sunset rose more and more from beyond the horizon.

The sky grew brighter.

In inverse proportion, Yvette grew weaker.

The monstrous strength of the dragon’s legs, which she had felt nothing from during the night, now crushed her body like a vise tightening.

Her surging magic power disappeared.

Her sense of omnipotence was lost.

“Stop! I’m telling you to stop! Why don’t you understand! What did I do to you!? I did nothing to you or your companions! I only thought of Lord Arthur, for Lord Arthur! Guuuh!”

The Blue Witch let out a snarl of contempt at Yvette, who was being scorched by sunlight and smoking, and chanted an incantation as if carving it in.

“Be burned by the sun and turn to ash. Boil, my blood, my anger. I shall squeeze out every last drop of your Hatobato blood, as atonement to your ancestors.”

A ghastly crimson mist clung to Yvette.

Black blood was squeezed from her black body, and magic power leaked out rapidly.

Yvette screamed. She could do nothing but scream screams of terror and lamentation.

As her screams and body withered, she grew visibly smaller.

When her screams could no longer be heard over the howling wind, Yvette had become like a small mummy painted black.

The Blue Witch snorted and threw the bone-dry corpse into the sunset sky.

To the black mummy tossed about by the sudden gust like a leaf, the Blue Witch chanted a finishing magic.

“If I am controlled, please do not hesitate. I do not want to kill you.”

Two crossed large scythes appeared, moving on their own to cut the mummy cleanly in two.

Yvette’s corpse, severed by absolute death magic, immediately turned to dust, dissolving into the void and vanishing with the wind.

Having been given absolute death from which resurrection was impossible, Yvette disappeared from the world without a trace.

The Blue Witch made a large turn and set out on her way back.

The existence of the witch she had just erased was already pushed to the corner of her thoughts, and the Blue Witch’s head was full of worry for the lover and daughter she had left behind.

The traitor who cast a dark shadow over the Chengdu Concession would soon be forgotten.