Chapter 63

"Oh, it is a mistake, I never took part in the revolution... ah, no, never took part in treason against the kingdom!"

"There must be a mistake! It must be a frame-up by someone jealous of me! I would never take part in a rebellion-"

"Please, please, please forgive me!"

"It's unjust, it's so unjust!"

One desperate excuse after another, each with its own story but in each case, their endings always boiled down to one thing.

Guilty or not guilty, no difference, all the same.

There were screams and death.

By that time, only one word was enough to summarize the country of the Holy Kingdom.

Terror.

In the face of the stakes erected throughout the capital, the bodies hanging from them, the terror that enveloped the entire city, people could no longer think of revolution.

It was just the fear of purges and death, or the accusations and finger-pointing that was often done out of hatred for no good reason.

I, and we, could only watch in silence as this hellish landscape unfolded.

Like an indifferent observer in a laboratory, unconcerned with the suffering of the mice in the lab.

~A mansion in the capital of a kingdom~

Leaving the scene of beheadings and executions outside my window, I turned my head in silence.

As I turned, I saw Aria and Alice standing by my side as ever.

They've been by my side since I first fell into this world, no matter how far I've wandered.

"...I noticed you don't smoke anymore."

I blinked at Aria's question, before reaching into my pocket out of habit and realizing that I hadn't smoked in a while.

"...."

Still, I didn't bother to answer. I wonder what Aria would think of such a change in behavior. At some point, I realized that since I started playing "the real Rain Gray," I've been less likely to notice or care about her in that form anymore.

"It just happens."

I realize that while it's not good to be overly self-conscious, it's not good to be the opposite either, so I reply casually. Alice laughs at my answer.

"Yes! Cigarettes are useless! They're bad for you! They don't even taste good!"

With an innocent smile.

"If you want to live a long and healthy life, you should quit smoking!"

In a voice that was oblivious to the unfathomable death and suffering of the people outside my window.

"...Yes, you're right. Health is precious."

Aria smiles in agreement with Alice's words. Her eyes are still covered by the bandages. Like her two simultaneously covered pupils, Aria's eyes are still filled with blindness toward me.

"Speaking of which, it seems that a message from Golden Lord in the Duchy of Germania has arrived."

"What does it say?"

"It says that they are ready to execute <Order 66> at any moment, as soon as you give the word."

Ever the right-hand woman, Aria calmly reports.

"If this does not produce a hero, we are prepared to execute the next course of action."

"...."

They were accustomed to making 'heroes' appear, even before I had such a determination.

Forgotten by the world, they remembered them when no one else remembered them, and they kept their existence alive.

The appearance of such a hero was called a manifestation.

So who is the hero who will appear like a savior in this hellish country?

Apart from the heroes I've raised so far, will it be the new protagonist of this new game that I've never played before?

Or would it be someone from the other side of the world, playing the game on a monitor in the original world, just like I was?

I couldn't tell but I'm about to find out.

Clearly, we are a group of villains but there was still one thing I couldn't figure out.

Every time a hero emerged from the dizzying world, I knew the consequences of my actions.

An ending that would only lead to more heroes and the murder of someone in the Black Snake.

As usual, the "villainous group" plots, and the chaos they cause is eventually resolved by the hero.

It's a classic tale.

"Is that enough?"

"Enough of what?"

"The blood that flows in this country."

I said, casually, as if we were just talking about something trivial.

"It's not my role to ...think about it."

Aria smiles, her words vague.

"Though, I must admit, it's a little less than usual."

There's a freezing coldness in that smile, a coldness that never cares enough to bother with the sacrifice or death of innocent humans.

"...Yes."

Now, I was no exception.

I'm just patiently waiting for the desired outcome. I don't care what the process is.

Even then, I couldn't help but ask myself.

When did I become so indifferent to the death of others?

I don't want my troupe members to die anymore than I want the deaths of others to matter to me. I knew how arbitrary and selfish that was.

And I didn't care.

No longer did my will or actions require anyone's forgiveness or permission.

"Execute command 66."

*

~Duchy of Germania, sometime later~

"Lord Rain has approved Order 66."

After deciphering the telegram, the man known as the Golden Lord smiled wordlessly toward the doll with the Führer's face in front of him, and the doll of his beloved son within it.

"I understand, Father."

Ergo, the Artificer, nodded in silence.

"Indeed, how much blood this world will shed for one hero."

As always, they would stop at nothing in the shadows to bring chaos to the world.

*

I remember when I first fell into this world.

I remember when I opened my eyes and was thrown into a world where everything was unfamiliar.

The first thing I saw in that landscape was Aria, who had always been by my side.

"...Master."

Those were the first words I heard in this world.

Just as a baby bird awakening from its egg sees its mother for the first time and hears her words, so I saw Aria and heard her words.

When I heard the word "captain," I somehow understood the whole situation intuitively.

I had become the leader of the villainous group.

That this was the game world I'd been watching on the monitor.

Despite my breathless panic and agitation, my body refused to listen, as if it were rigid. In fact, I was relieved. It wouldn't have done me any good to show my panic and agitation.

In retrospect, I was putting on an act from that moment on.

In front of her, who had been by my side since the very beginning next to Alice, who smiled innocently as if it was natural for her to be with me.

Alice of Gluttony was the first new member of the troupe that I hadn't seen in any of the previous productions, the first one that came in when I opened my eyes.

And the day I first fell into this world, the day I realized that the possession I'd heard so much about had happened, was the day I killed a person for the first time.

He was a nobleman, kneeling before Rain Gray, begging for forgiveness, as countless others before him had done. I don't know what he did wrong.

He rubbed his hands together and kissed my feet, desperately begging for his life.

There is no reason why he deserves to die, no reason why he should die.

He just had the misfortune to die.

Therefore, in front of the man, at my side, to fulfill the demands of the unsuspecting women, I began to act as the leader of the villainous group.

Everything was prepared like a script.

As if to make me realize who I was as soon as I opened my eyes, in the surest and quickest way possible.

─I acted to fulfill the will of the women who called me leader.

I stretched out my arms, wordlessly uttered the magic name, and the man's body ignited as if on its own accord.

I watched as the flames grew before my eyes, engulfing the man's body, oozing blood and writhing in agony.

Aria laughed. She watched the man burning through the invisible bandages, as if it were as lovely as fireworks.

As I watched, I realized I had a cigarette in the lapel of my coat, and I popped it into my mouth.

Quitting smoking, which I thought I had finally succeeded, ended up in vain, and I remembered that every time I lit a cigarette with magic.

Lest I forget, out of guilt, there were fifty thousand reasons to start smoking again. Just like an addict has ten thousand excuses to pick up a cigarette and take a drink they've stopped drinking.

Then, at some point, I realized that I didn't even remember the cigarettes I used to smoke.

It was about the time I realized that what I was doing—-and did not need anyone's understanding or forgiveness.