There’s one thing I can never endure, no matter what tricks I use. An act that defiles the sanctity of research. Things like “data forgery,” or “how is that your paper?” or “plagiarism”....
'Uh-oh.'
...Ah.
'This damned old man.'
For a moment I nearly tripped into self-contradiction, but I caught myself. Galois is on my side. And I’m the kind of man whose arm bends inward like a hinge, so I can overlook his plagiarism. But if he weren’t on my side, I would be solemn and merciless.
—I don’t matter. What matters is what remains after I’m gone....
Regarding the 『Curse of Pettiness』, Galois had said he researched it just for money, but in truth it was far more complex. The purpose of the research was to beg forgiveness from Grandray City. The content of the research was to bring a little more laughter into the world.
'For this research to truly take root, two conditions must be satisfied.'
First, the research had to be credible. And the formulas I had verified were indeed credible. Second, Grandray City had to be worthy of receiving his atonement. Yet what I saw were impure parasites mixed in. And I knew the simplest way to deal with such problems.
'To defile the purpose of research, how dare they.'
Solemn, merciless fury welled up.
***
“You fucking lunatic... waving a sword in broad daylight?”
The man drew a blade from the spatial pouch at his waist. The motion was all too natural.
“Why does the Victims’ Alliance carry swords?”
“Then what, you bastard—you come at me with a sword and I should greet you empty-handed?”
At that moment we were near the protest tents by City Hall. The man shouted.
“Hey! Get over here! Some nutjob showed up!!”
As the tents beyond stirred, I advanced.
“Don’t come closer.”
I ignored him and walked.
“Don’t come! I’ll gut you!”
Still I walked. He stepped into true stride. His blade shot upward from his waist in an instant. Even at the very first clash, his strike mixed feints with reality. Dropping his shoulder as if aiming for my belly, his wrist rose—the tip arcing straight for my throat.
Kiiing—
It stopped at my teeth. I opened my mouth and bit the blade.
“......!!”
Shock flashed across his face.
Rank: roughly 165th tier. And me, a [Challenger]. Even if my raw stats were low compared to my rank, the gap between me and some dime-a-dozen assassin like him was now like the gulf between an ant and a man.
Crack, clang! I clenched my jaw. The sword tip snapped. I spat it out.
Swaaak—thunk.
The broken shard shot forward, piercing through his hand, smashing bone, punching out through his palm, and embedding in the ground.
“......!”
He dropped his sword, staggering back. I kept walking forward.
“You’ve stabbed a lot of people, haven’t you? The motion’s awfully natural.”
“...Who the hell are you. Where did you come from?”
“I am a professor at Hiaka Academy. And you—who are you?”
“You walk into the Victims’ Alliance tents yourself, and say that shit? This is the Victims’ Alliance. Why the fuck are you suddenly pulling a blade and going berserk?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You’re not the Victims’ Alliance.”
【What’s this bastard?】【Security detail...?】 Thoughts spilled across their minds, but not their true affiliation. Talking wouldn’t get it out of them.
So I stepped forward, clamped my hand on his shoulder, from collarbone to trapezius, and pressed.
“......!”
His body began to twist.
“...Aaaaagh! Aaaaghhh! Aaaaaaaaghhh!!”
He collapsed, clutching my hand, trying to wrench free. I felt the snap. His collarbone had broken. I ignored it and pressed harder.
“Who are you really with.”
“Hhghh... hii...! Hhhhaaaaaaghhh!!”
“Who.”
I twisted my head.
Swaaak—!
A bullet grazed past. I turned. Smoke rose from the muzzle of another man’s gun.
“Hey! You fucking psycho! Get your hands off Vixon!”
“Let go! You want a bullet in your skull?!”
“Wait—wasn’t that bastard the one who drove in earlier?”
Half a dozen of them had come out of the tents.
I kept squeezing. But soon released. Because he’d passed out.
“Shit! Kill him!!”
“Uwaaaaah!!”
They were assassins, but clearly long out of practice. What assassin in the world screams while charging?
I reacted. An assassin twirled forward with twin daggers. Whirr! My body shifted thirty centimeters to the side as I reached. The blade fell past me. 『Double Step』 footwork. But even as his magic flare burst, my hand was already there. I slapped his cheek.
Smack!
His head spun, dragging his body around.
From the side, seven throwing knives streaked in. The angles were exquisite, designed so that whichever way I dodged, one would land.
『Armory of the Celestial Soldier』 absorbed them. 【What!? My blades!!】 At the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) same time, one of them revealed himself as an [Alchemy] assassin. He manipulated the ground to grab my legs—『Entangle.』
“Got him! Kill!!”
Sniping and projectiles poured in like a river. The coordination was high. 【He’s stopped!】【Now’s the time to kill!】 Quick, decisive movements.
But they didn’t know. What it means when I stop.
── .
The invisible hand of a giant slammed down on the snipers and throwers.
Boom—!
I had unleashed the 「Giant Soldier’s Sword○」 without even a start-up.
The men flattened like dried squid. I looked at the alchemist.
“......”
Our eyes met. He instantly dropped the 『Entangle』, fell to his knees, and raised his hands.
“F-fine... I’ll stop....”
“Come here.”
“Huh? O-okay....”
Smack!
I slapped him unconscious. Then moved on. The twin-dagger assassin remained, staring, shaken. He glanced at the flattened corpses—seemed one of them had been their boss.
“You, assassin.”
“......”
“Not answering?”
“Y-yes, sir. Speak.”
“That tent you set up here—it’s just for show, to fake being protestors.”
“Yes.”
“Where’s your base.”
“...That way.”
'That way?'
Even from a distance, when I raised my hand as if to strike, he flinched into a guard and blurted:
“I’ll guide you! Just spare me!”
“Fine.”
But was this guy really an assassin?
“As a professor, let me grade you. Zero. What kind of assassin carries himself like a tool?”
“......”
“Ever seen a hammer too scared to swing in case the handle breaks? That’s you lot. Pathetic.”
“...Better to bend than break.”
“Talking back?”
“No! Sorry! I’m a pathetic assassin.”
“Good.”
As I dragged him along, eyes from the other tents bored into me. But they didn’t move, just watched. Not assassins.
“What group are you really with?”
“Y-yes. The Audrivan Assassins... sir.”
“What the hell is that.”
“Uh... a Black Abyss assassin band from the west. We used to take contracts.”
“Then why the hell are Black Abyss assassins posing as the Victims’ Alliance in Grandray?”
“I... don’t know, sir....”
Beating him more wouldn’t improve my mood or yield anything useful. Still, the 【Script】 showed he had some fallback plan.
“That building.”
“You’ve got rope?”
“Yes.”
“Use it. Tie yourself to that pole.”
He bound himself to the utility pole.
“If those ropes come off, you die. If you untie them, you die. If someone else unties them, you die. If they come loose by accident, I’ll still kill you. Deal with it.”
“Y-yes sir....”
Then I entered the Victims’ Alliance headquarters.
The counter was clean. Modest.
“Who are you?”
A female clerk tilted her head, but I ignored her and pushed deeper. Opened a door.
“Hey! Where are you—! Harrison! Corman!”
Two assassins burst from the hall ahead.
“Stop. That’s far enough.”
[Trap–Poison] assassins. They unleashed their skills, filling the corridor with traps. Higher-level than the ones outside.
“Who the hell are you? Whatever, let’s talk outside. You won’t get any further anyway.”
“Is that so?”
I moved my hand. The Giant’s Hand○.
Kwaaang—!
The entire corridor blew apart, traps annihilated. A corridor is an enclosed tunnel of walls, ceiling, and floor—yet I’d just punched a hole larger than the building itself. The two assassins at the end slammed into the walls.
'That room.'
I followed the direction they’d tried to hide. At the end, I opened the door. A reek hit me—alcohol and narcotic fumes. Several men lay sprawled.
● Deputy Representative of the Victims’ Alliance: Rountilan
“...Quite a party you had.”
I turned on the light. Still they didn’t rise. This was the deputy’s office. On the wall were photos of him with Alliance members—middle-aged and elderly faces, sullen expressions.
That’s when my “sense” awakened like a ghost. The instinct of a man who’d risen from commoner to Chief of Imperial Security.
On one wall stood a safe. Huge, solid, near-impenetrable. I smashed it with my fist. Ka-kang!! Grabbed and tore. Mana lines snapped. Crackle! With the wards broken, the door opened.
'Here it is.'
Among the documents was one labeled [Relief Fund Disbursement Records]. It detailed goods and money the royal family had sent directly to the Victims’ Alliance.
'They really skimmed everything.'
Tens of millions of Hika for the city gone, of course. Even “clothing support” caught my eye. In the first half alone, 5,800 sets were sent for victim relief. Yet Odilen at the orphanage looked like a beggar.
'And this...'
There was also a list of [Pension Disbursements for Elderly Victims].
'Fifteen years of payments... but the initial age listed was 108. And the number of elderly receiving pensions? 157.'
I checked the address. Fifth floor of this very building. All the old men supposedly living together in a “Room of Care.”
Funny, isn’t it? A building without elevators. And 117 mobility-impaired old folks are all housed on the fifth floor?
“......!”
Just then, I locked eyes with an assassin leaning on the window. I could’ve caught him, but I didn’t. I left.
Heading up the stairs at the end of the hall, I heard the ruckus outside grow.
“Don’t untie me! Don’t!!”
“What the fuck are you doing, idiot! Stay still!”
“Don’t—don’t untie me from the poleeeee!!”
A crowd of assassins argued whether to free the man I’d bound. I ignored them and kept up to the fifth floor.
But by now the commotion had spread. 【Not a normal guy! Call the guards!】 Orders were given. On my [Mini-map], a red dot streaked toward the building like a missile.
● Grandray Guard Captain: Figrian
At last, when I reached the fifth floor, a man blocked my path at the corridor’s end. His features strong, like a rhinoceros.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing. In my city.”
At once, over a dozen guards swarmed from all sides.
And then I understood where this absurdity stemmed from.
“Collusion.”
“Collusion? I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’ve got someone above you?”
The captain laughed.
“And if you knew, could you handle it? The one above the Guard is the royal family.”
A sigh slipped out.
“......”
Galois... was burning away his life to feed maggots like these.