Chapter 60: The Wind Blows (2)

Tok, tok, tok──

The sound of measured footsteps from dress shoes filled the hallway.

When the sound finally stopped, the owner of the shoes was standing in front of a door adorned with an ornate pattern.

──Knock, knock, knock.

Then, as she knocked on the door with the same measured motion as her steps.

“Who is it?”

From beyond the door, a man's voice, tinged with a hint of annoyance, was heard.

“It's me. Ethesia.”

When Ethesia replied in a soft tone with a smile on her lips.

“──!”

Kudangtang!

A loud noise echoed from beyond the door.

He must have knocked over a desk or something in his haste.

“Good evening, Ethesia.”

But the Khamsin who was revealed when the door opened soon after looked relaxed, as if no such thing had happened.

Although he couldn't quite hide the half-buttoned shirt or the papers scattered on the floor visible over his shoulder.

At Khamsin's sloppy appearance, Ethesia chuckled.

“What brings you here, Ethesia? To visit me, of all people, in the middle of the night.”

“You’ve been tempting me to visit all this time, but now that I'm actually here, you seem completely unprepared?”

“……Pardon?”

Khamsin's mouth fell open.

“Don't tell me you've been saying things you don't mean all this time?”

“Uh… th-that is, what you're saying is…”

This time, he couldn't hide his flustered expression at all.

“You didn't come because of work… is that what you mean?”

“May I come in?”

“…O-Of course!”

To Khamsin, who greeted her while stuttering, his feigned composure from just a moment ago already long gone, Ethesia gave a bright smile.

“Thank you.”

Ethesia, who had thus entered the room, pretended to close the door but left it slightly ajar.

“Well… to be honest, since you always left room for possibility but skillfully refused, I didn't know if you truly had feelings for me.”

Khamsin, whose nervousness was palpable, did not notice it.

“You act like a virgin even though you've held countless women, Representative Khamsin?”

“Well… it's you, isn't it, Ethesia.”

“It doesn't feel bad.”

Ethesia, who let out another chuckle, then began to slowly look around the room with her hands clasped behind her back.

“Ah, first, would you like a drink?”

Khamsin, seeing this, seemed to think she wanted something, but Ethesia immediately shook her head and refused.

“Didn't I tell you last time?”

Then she looked back at Khamsin and said.

“Opening your door to just anyone is a policy I would not recommend.”

“I told you I haven't opened it to just anyone.”

“Lies. You opened it to anyone who said they'd open their legs.”

At these words, Khamsin, who was going to the shelf to pour a drink, flinched and gave a bitter smile.

“Who told you that?”

“My informants?”

“You had your subordinates spy on me?”

“Of course I did. That's my job.”

As Ethesia readily admitted it, Khamsin took a sip of the drink he had poured with that bitter smile still on his lips.

“Well, I'm confident that spy couldn't have seen everything.”

He seemed to think it was a mischievous joke.

“Is that so?”

“Or perhaps they saw it but couldn't believe it, so they couldn't report it.”

“You are one of the three wings, Representative Khamsin. What would you have done if there had been an assassin aiming for your life among the women you've satisfied with that confidence of yours?”

“I've often heard them say they were going to die, but thankfully, there have been no friends who said they would kill me.”

“Friends, you say.”

Ethesia crossed her arms and smirked.

“And, I know how to protect my own body.”

“I know that well.”

Khamsin, as if to gather courage, downed the rest of his drink and then slowly approached Ethesia.

“And if you want me to, I will change from now on.”

Ethesia, who was looking up at Khamsin who had come right in front of her, then uncrossed her arms and carefully undid one of his shirt buttons that had been fastened out of order in his haste.

“Then, what if I came to kill you right now?”

“Wanna bet?”

Khamsin roughly grabbed Ethesia's hand.

“Who will be the first to say they're going to die?”

Then he pulled her closer and kissed her on the nape of her neck.

Then, he lifted one of her legs and pushed her, seating her on the desk behind them, and this time, he tried to kiss her.

“──Alright.”

If his lips hadn't been blocked by Ethesia's outstretched index finger.

“Let's do it. A bet.”

“Do you know how long I've waited for you to say that?”

“I know.”

Ethesia gently pushed Khamsin's face away with her finger.

“So naive.”

“Hah. You're the first to call me naive──”

At that moment.

──Kwang!

The kicked door was violently thrown open.

Startled by the sound, Khamsin quickly turned his back and stretched out his arm as if to shield Ethesia.

“You bastards, what are you──”

Then he belatedly realized that most of those who had burst in with their military boots were familiar faces.

They were faces he had seen often.

“You guys…!”

They were all subordinates who followed Ethesia.

──Thwack!

A dull sound echoed.

At the same time, Khamsin, who exhaled, clutched his abdomen that had been struck by a sword hilt and fell to one knee.

“What is… this…”

Looking up at Ethesia in pain, he seemed to have not yet properly grasped the situation.

“See, I told you, didn't I?”

Ethesia looked at Khamsin with her usual eyes, which were soft yet sharp, but clearly filled with affection, and said.

“Not to open your door to just anyone.”

As if this incident was no different from the trivial banter they usually exchanged.

“Why, in the world……”

“I quite like you, Representative Khamsin. To be honest, enough that I could be held by you.”

Then, Ethesia slowly crouched down to meet Khamsin's eye level.

“So, please don't make me kill you.”

And grabbing his face roughly as if slapping both his cheeks, she pulled him in and kissed him passionately.

It looked more like the act of stamping a seal than a kiss.

After the short kiss ended, Ethesia stood up, leaving the speechless Khamsin behind.

“Take him away.”

As she wiped her lips with a handkerchief she had taken out from the front pocket of her uniform.

* * *

I knew that Ethesia was plotting something.

And to convey that, I first needed her to reveal her true colors.

It was obvious that no one would believe me unless I presented them with direct ‘evidence’.

Not Khamsin, not Mistral.

Nor any of their followers.

And if we were to attack Ethesia on our own before the ‘incident’ happened, we would only become hostile with Daian, so we had to let the ‘story’ proceed first.

That's why I acted as if I knew nothing and accepted the request from Ethesia and Khamsin.

It was all part of the plan.

To properly one-up her, who had thought of us as nothing more than disposable pawns from the outside.

──Kwaang!

With the explosion, the ‘youth’ who had been hit directly by Rine's 「Fireball」 was sent flying far away.

As a signal, the other companions also moved.

Before the 「priests(?)」 could ‘react’ to the sudden explosion, Ibi was the first to escape from the threat using 「Swift Escape」.

At the same time, a thick cloud of smoke rose.

The 「priests(?)」 seemed to be flustered and swinging their swords wildly, but Miki and Lily had already swiftly escaped.

As the 「priests(?)」, who had realized this belatedly, jumped out of the smoke.

“Aargh!”

Miki smashed one of their shins with his shield, and then smashed the face that naturally came down with his shield.

Hududuk!

Teeth, pulled out along with a stream of blood, scattered on the floor.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Ibi was already rapidly slashing the neck and chest of a 「priest(?)」 with the daggers in both her hands.

So it was a natural reaction for the remaining 「priest(?)」 who saw this to run towards Lily.

『Wind!』

“Waaargh!”

Though he couldn't even reach her as he was blown away by the wind from a 「Wingbeat」 strong enough to instantly clear the smoke.

By the time the man who had been sent flying tried to hastily get up, Miki's shield was already flying towards him.

“Ugh──”

──Kaaang!

The man, who was hit directly in the forehead by the—knight's level 5 skill—「Shield Throw」, didn't even stagger and just passed out on the floor.

In the meantime, I.

“Keuk…”

『Lie down.』

“……!”

Took off my mask and approached the ‘youth’ who was trying to get up, and cast a 「Word Command」.

The man, who looked up at me with his eyes tinged with a faint pink, had an expression as if he still couldn't understand why this was happening.

Why he was lying flat on the floor.

In the first place, why they had been so easily subdued.

“H-How──”

──Chwaaak!

The man couldn't finish his sentence.

He was completely soaked by the 「Water Bomb」 that had poured down just as he was about to say something.

The man, who coughed up the water he seemed to have inadvertently swallowed, then managed to open his mouth again with a trembling voice.

“D-Don't tell me… you already knew about us……?”

“Who knows?”

Looking down at him, I shrugged and asked playfully.

“What do you think?”

“Since when, exactly……”

“No, no, no.”

I wagged my raised index finger lightly.

“Sorry, but you're not in a position to ask questions.”

And Rine, who had quietly approached my side, once again aimed her staff at the man.

“We'll be asking the questions.”

Chijik, chijijik!

Small sparks began to fly from the tip of her aimed staff.

“…Don't do anything useless.”

At that clear threat, the man replied with a sneer.

“I have nothing to tell you people…!”

“There was a guy who said something very similar to you.”

At that, I also gave a smirk.

“So if I just say what I said back then── I know, you won't say anything.”

Then I crouched down and got closer to him.

“What you fear more than death is betraying the master you serve, right?”

You are loyal.

I immediately added.

“I understand. You are an exemplary soldier. If only you hadn't chosen the wrong side, if only the master you so loyally serve wasn't a traitor trying to stage a coup, that is.”

“…!”

At that moment, I saw the man's mouth fall open.

“How, on earth, do you know that…!”

“You're not afraid of death, so what's the point of threatening to kill you if you don't talk?”

Instead of answering his question, I deliberately continued with my own words.

“Do you know what unavenged spirits have in common?”

The stories are varied, but they generally can't leave this world easily because they have ‘lingering regrets’.

The man looked at me, who had suddenly started talking about this, as if he couldn't understand.

Until I said this.

“Go ahead and say it.”

“You, if you were to die without hearing anything from the guy who saw through the entire plan of the master you would gladly give your life for, do you really think you could leave this world without any lingering regrets?”

“……!”

“Yeah, that's right.”

Then I took off my glove and held out the 「Medium's Ring」 on my finger.

“You can't even go to hell.”

Even if he didn't recognize what kind of artifact that ring was, it seemed he understood well enough what I was about to do.

“Because I'll pull you out first.”

Otherwise, there was no way a guy who wasn't even afraid of death would make such an expression.

“Well then, see you later.”

“You, son of a──”

『You son of a bitch who will only cause trouble for your master even in death.』