Galimar (4)
Some time passed.
The sun dipped below the horizon, and stars began to peek through the twilight.
A strange shadow blanketed the alleyway.
It was like a black fog had descended, making it impossible to see even an inch ahead.
The scene held a dreamlike quality.
Like a fleeting dream at dawn.
But, as if it had never been, the scene abruptly shifted.
Snap!
A finger snapped lightly.
With a simple, quiet sound, the fog that had swallowed the alley vanished in an instant.
Without a trace.
"Haa..."
I exhaled, standing in the space the darkness had retreated from.
Perhaps it was because I hadn't used my ability in a while.
My fingertips tingled.
Had I been too flashy?
I brushed away the lingering shadows on my sleeve.
As I moved my hand nonchalantly, a faint groan reached my ears.
"Uh, ugh..."
"Uhhh..."
Two figures writhed on the ground.
The pig and his knight.
Their pathetic bodies lay helpless, eyes rolled back in their heads.
It seemed I had broken them by directly hitting them with 'Lies.'
From now on, they would live the life of invalids.
Unable to do anything, they would become like crippled birds, spending the rest of their miserable lives in that state.
I silently offered my condolences.
"...I didn't want to go this far."
If possible, I wanted to settle things peacefully.
Because I am a generous person.
However, I couldn't hold back when the word "Regia" left his mouth.
"Well~ You should know your place."
How dare a mere extra try to lay a hand on our protagonist?
It was unacceptable.
If a line is crossed, there must be consequences.
"This is the price you pay for crossing me."
A smirk spread across my lips.
Suppressing the blossoming mockery, I turned my back.
I had dealt with the threat, so I thought I should just go back to the inn.
As I took a step...
"..."
Something caught my foot.
I quietly knelt down, confirming its identity.
It was a boy, seemingly no older than ten.
No, to be precise, it was his corpse.
His face was covered in blood.
It was so mangled that it seemed he had been beaten with mana infused blows.
Was he an innocent victim of someone's blind rage?
Only clear tear tracks remained on his starved cheeks.
I slowly reached out and wiped the tears from his cold eyes.
"...How cruel."
But that was the nature of the slums.
A place where the weak and powerless were killed without a second thought.
"You had to die so young."
Everyone was once a child.
But most don't remember their childhood.
"My poor Leon Bert."
But you, you weren't even given the right to forget your childhood.
Your time stopped before you could even become an adult.
May this street remember you.
And in place of the adult you could not become, may it forget your childhood.
Rustle-.
I covered the boy's face with the handkerchief I had taken out.
A moment of silent mourning.
Soon, I got up from my spot again.
'I really need to get going now.'
I had a lot to do.
It was only a week before the academy entrance exam.
Especially since a very important event was scheduled for tomorrow.
I needed to prepare.
'That being said... I feel like someone's been here since earlier.'
I tilted my head at the presence I felt in the distance.
I focused and tried to sense more.
However, perhaps due to the aftermath of using my ability, my senses were dulled by dizziness.
Still, it didn't seem like I needed to be wary.
There was no hostility, nor any sign of strangely circulating mana.
Perhaps it was just a drunkard wandering around.
I concluded my thoughts.
It would be troublesome if someone saw this scene.
I quickly moved towards the entrance of the alley, wanting to leave this place behind.
***
The alleyway where the Snake had departed.
A figure, hidden around the corner, revealed itself.
"..."
It was a girl who seemed out of place in the slums.
Her eyes were the color of the sea.
Her platinum blonde hair, reaching down to her shoulders, shimmered even in the darkness of the night.
She was wearing a robe to conceal her identity, but her inherent nobility couldn't be hidden.
The girl cautiously looked around.
As if wary of the possibility that the Snake hadn't completely left the alley.
Fortunately, there was no sign of anything suspicious.
Only then did the girl remove her hand from the sword at her waist.
Thump-.
She collapsed to her knees, as if her strength had left her.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
Her face remained expressionless, but she was, in fact, quite shaken.
"...What was that?"
She muttered to herself.
The girl's eyes clouded as she recalled the scene she had just witnessed.
It was a nightmare.
She clenched her fists, trying to stop her shoulders from trembling.
"I've never seen anything like that."
There had been rumors that the atmosphere in the slums had been unusual lately, but she had never heard of such a monster.
What was going on?
She pressed her hand to her throbbing forehead.
The girl got to her feet.
It seemed she felt the need to investigate.
About the 'man' she had just witnessed.
"Let's go back for now."
The First Princess of the Empire, Charlotte Little von Staufen.
A character often referred to as the other protagonist of the original game, "The World as Seen by the Little Prince".
The Little Prince, Charlotte.
The girl moved quietly.
Careful not to reveal her presence to anyone.
***
Back at the inn, after a long day.
I was lying on the bed.
I wasn't particularly tired.
I was simply recovering some of the energy I had abruptly used.
"It's such a difficult ability to handle," I muttered to myself involuntarily.
Perhaps it was the aftereffect of using my ability, but my fingertips still tingled.
I slowly clenched my fist.
"Hmm."
It was a tricky ability to handle, but it was also incredibly powerful.
If I wanted to, I could wipe out the entire continent with this power.
'Unique Ability, Liar.'
The power to defy reason through spoken lies.
I could make anything I wanted to deceive believable, and anything I wanted to deny nonexistent.
Of course, I could manipulate others as I pleased.
It was an ability that could affect objects, magic, nature... even the laws of the world.
For example, it was helpful to recall the final battle between the protagonist's party and Judas in the original story.
- Hahaha! No matter how you swing your sword, it won't reach me!
- Because I'm denying your existence.
The Swordmaster's strike missed.
As if toying with him, the Snake dodged it with ease.
- Hmm~ Magic is a bit bothersome. Shall we set a new rule here?
- From now on, magic won't work on me.
The attacks launched by the wizards were effortlessly deflected.
Carefully honed mana. But it couldn't even leave a scratch on the Snake.
- Oh my! You almost killed me, Regia.
- Your summoned beast is quite dangerous!
- Shall we make it disappear for a while?
The summoned beast that the protagonist had been controlling vanished. As if it had never existed in the first place.
- This is getting a bit boring.
- Shall we... make the world a little more interesting?
He denied the laws of physics.
The boy clapped his hands once, and the gravity of the entire continent reversed.
People plummeted towards the sky.
It was a scene of utter destruction.
With a sinister smile, the Liar, shrouded in billowing black fog, said.
"..."
It was a scene that triggered my trauma.
Damn it. It should be strong within the bounds of common sense.
Who in their right mind would make this bastard the final boss?
It wasn't like I had tried 1943 times for nothing.
The difficulty was insanely high.
One wrong move and it was game over, yawn and it was game over, blink and it was game over.
Watching the protagonist's party get brutally defeated like that made me curse under my breath.
Still, I managed to clear it in the end.
The problem was that I was dragged into this world before I could even see the ending.
"What a shame."
= Fuck this.
Anyway, that was the power this body possessed.
The power to destroy the world single-handedly.
Of course, it wasn't completely without weaknesses.
As powerful as it was, its stamina wasn't great, so it was difficult to sustain the ability for long periods.
Judas in the latter half of the original story seemed to have overcome this problem, but not me.
I was only in my third year of being possessed, for crying out loud.
You have to compare apples to apples.
In short, I couldn't do things like 'reverse continental gravity'.
'I could try... but I'd probably run out of power first.'
This ability was like a battery.
Once I used up all the lies I had in me, the ability wouldn't activate anymore.
The reason I couldn't become a grand-scale 'Liar' like Judas was the same reason you couldn't run a computer on AAA batteries.
Moreover, once used, it had to be recharged before it could be used again.
Because you couldn't do anything with an empty battery.
The charging method was as follows.
"I confess to myself. I haven't done anything today."
Immediately after the short sentence, a blue screen appeared before my eyes.
- Ding!
[A small amount of lies has been restored.]
[Current remaining output: 57%]
An ability faithful to its concept, you could say.
It was recharged by telling lies.
The more perfect the lie, the greater the emotional change in the listener, the more effective it was.
"I had stew for lunch today."
- Ding!
[A small amount of lies has been restored.]
[Current remaining output: 57.5%]
"I am outdoors right now."
- Ding!
[A small amount of lies has been restored.]
[Current remaining output: 57.8%]
"I hate games."
- Ding!
[A small amount of lies has been restored.]
[Current remaining output: 58.4%]
"I am not human."
- Ding!
[Lies have been...]
It was something like that.
To be honest, these trivial lies didn't charge much, but it was still better to keep doing it.
I had to be ready to use my ability at any time.
Maybe something else would come up over time, but...
For now, this was the best I could do.
It was also a good way to practice keeping my mouth shut.
So I lay in bed, muttering lies to myself for a while.
'Come to think of it... tomorrow is the day that event happens, isn't it?'
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
And then, the corners of my indifferent lips curled up into a sinister smile.
Something interesting was going to happen tomorrow.
A ripple spread through my calm heart.
Savoring the surging anticipation, I ended my day.
***
The next day, after a full day had passed.
I left the inn around sunset.
To head towards the event.
Hiding my excitement, I slowly made my way.
Wheeee-.
Even though the sun was setting, spring was still spring.
Flower petals danced in the wind.
It was a peaceful scene.
As I walked down the street, I soon arrived at my destination.
Actually, I hadn't just walked here.
I had used 'Lies' to negate space along the way.
A distance that would normally take more than an hour by carriage was shortened to less than ten minutes.
- Ding!
[Current remaining output: 81.7%]
Ignoring the mechanical sound that reached my ears, I lifted my head.
A huge building came into view.
It was an excessively luxurious exterior for a building located in such a remote place.
'It's exactly as I remember it from the game.'
The Empire's largest slave auction house, Apple Tree.
An illegal facility run by a shadowy figure known as the 'Businessman'.
And it was also the setting where a certain character's story began.
I approached the large entrance.
A guard blocked my way, as if to check the guest list.
"Only those with reservations are allowed to enter Apple Tree. May I have your name?"
Naturally, I hadn't made any such reservation.
Instead of answering his question, I slightly raised my right hand and said,
"Could you look this way for a moment?"
"Excuse me?"
The moment our eyes met.
Snap!
I snapped my prepared fingers.
Immediately, the guard's eyes lost focus.
The broken doll twitched for a moment before losing all sense of reason and freezing in place.
I whispered to those vacant eyes.
"Step aside."
"...Your reservation has been confirmed. Please follow me to the VIP seats."
"How kind of you."
"Enjoy your time."
And so, I leisurely stepped into the auction house.
Perhaps because of the direct brainwashing, the guard had led me to quite a prime location.
A luxurious seat with a clear view of the stage.
Humming a tune, I leaned back in the plush chair.
- Thank you to everyone who has come to 'Apple Tree', the best auction house, once again!
- Before we begin the auction in earnest, we have a few announcements...
The auctioneer's voice boomed excitedly.
I paid him no mind, my attention solely focused below.
Beneath the auction house, where I sat, lay a subterranean prison.
A place where they kept those they had illegally kidnapped, demi-humans, locked away until they were sold as slaves.
The one I was looking for was most likely down there too.
A character from the game "The World as Seen by the Little Prince."
A supporting character who helped the protagonist and eventually became a powerful Swordmaster.
"It's time to meet the Fox."
Starting today, I was going to turn this auction house upside down.
To rescue her.
The air buzzed with anticipation.
The auctioneer continued his spiel, but I drowned him out, focusing on the murmurs and muffled sounds from below. The despair was palpable, a stark contrast to the opulent surroundings of the auction house.
My hand rested on the armrest, fingers tapping out a silent rhythm. A plan was forming in my mind, each step carefully calculated. I wouldn't be walking out of here empty-handed.
Tonight, I would rewrite a part of this world's script.
Tonight, the Fox would be freed.
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I like the writing style
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I got it wrong before, there’s another character who represents the Little Prince, but I at least knew it was the fox who was “bellow the Apple Tree”
ReplyDeletebruh he has all fiction?
ReplyDelete