“You. That room behind you.”
The assassin spoke, pointing at the door at the end of the fifth-floor corridor, the one blocked by a dozen guards.
“I want to see what’s inside.”
But Figrian snorted.
“Why should I listen to the words of a criminal?”
“......”
High-ranking guards had one particular pride: pride in belonging to the upper crust of the vast cartel called “the State.” Figrian, a Guard Captain ranked [Master], was no exception.
“Judging by the mess you made, you must be strong—”
He spoke in an ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) easy voice. The [Cognition Disruption] mask hid the man’s face. An assassin, apparently. But no mere assassin could stand against him. Someone like that—ten of them, a hundred of them—could never act rashly before the Guard Captain of the Hiaka Kingdom. ...Or so it should have been.
“...You’d best stop this foolishness and submit to arrest. Even if you rampage here, you know you can’t withstand the Guard. Better we both avoid bloodshed....”
By now, the gazes of his subordinates were turning on him. He realized he was speaking longer than usual.
“......”
It was because of the man, silent, tilting his head sideways, that Figrian felt a strange, ominous dread. His instincts as a beast warned him of danger.
“Hey, you little rat.”
Suddenly his voice rose.
“Did your ears get bricked shut? Want me to chop your limbs off and drag you in? Stop resisting and bow your head! Didn’t you hear me?!”
His booming voice restored the confidence of the guards. They glared at the assassin. But strangely. Very strangely... the assassin only looked back at him with his head cocked. The unease grew.
Could this bastard know something? About his collusion with the Black Abyss? Assassins rarely act alone—if he knew and came here deliberately, he’d have to be killed.
“I’ll show you the majesty of the royal family.”
A former paladin of the Church, Figrian tightened his grip on his warhammer.
“You mean... me?”
The assassin dropped the [Cognition Disruption].
The face revealed shocked Figrian and his elite guards. For it was the man whose face had appeared in newspapers and broadcasts for days now. The youngest senior professor. The researcher who shook the continent. An Obel Prize nominee. Recently married into the royal family.
Their minds went blank—then realized one thing. ...His martial ability was unknown.
“Kill him.”
At once—
Tung—
All the guards stepped into true stride. Their bodies swelled to three times their size, towering four meters tall. An ability only the elite possessed: 『Enlargement.』
Boom-boom-boom!!
Their warhammers thundered down. The assassin slipped away, the entire upper building bursting open to the sky. He leapt, widening the gap, while Figrian crouched behind his shield.
『 Formation Art – Shield Charge 』
Thunk—
His body became a cannonball, launching into the sky. A dozen shells blasted upward. No assassin could gain advantage from all directions at once.
『Binding』
A net of mana spread across the sky. The Guard’s formation to trap fast-moving targets.
Boom, boom-boom!
The heavy strikes missed, but the 『Shockwave』 ability pounded the air, each blast shaking the assassin’s body. His clothes tore. He staggered. At the climax, Figrian raised his hammer high.
『Judgment Stand』
An ability that could smash the dome over a terrorist hideout. Maximum force.
“Got you!!”
The guillotine of force descended.
But the assassin’s eyes curved in a smile. Then he vanished. [Illusion].
“Dammit!!”
“Where is he!?”
Panic spread. Figrian, sharpest in sense, turned to the building above. The roof had blown off. There, Dante was staring into the “room” they’d tried to hide.
The fifth floor of the main building. The “Room of Care.”
Inside, 117 elderly survivors of the Grandray tragedy—immobile, mummified. Long dead, left there to rot, kept only so pensions could be collected.
And now... he had seen it.
“...Fuck....”
Figrian bared his fangs. Dante stood precariously atop the shattered upper floor, then looked down at the guards.
“Hiaka has no need for guards who kill people.”
── .
At once, the bright day sank into darkness. Only the guards glowed, like targets.
『World Forgery: Phenomenon Forgery [Backlight]』
“Run!!”
Their will to fight collapsed. Figrian and his men fled in terror, crashing into walls in the perfect dark.
『Armory of the Celestial Soldier』
The space above their heads opened. The technique Dante had awakened at Agion’s battlefield.
『Punishment from Heaven』
The highest summoning ability activated. Spears of light rained down, impaling the guards through from crown to heel, like divine judgment.
“......”
Thus, Figrian and all the Grandray guards colluding with the Black Abyss were annihilated. Their corpses never recovered.
It was assassination.
***
—Please handle this well.
The next day, royal cadet Ezekiel sent the Central Guard to Grandray to investigate the “Victims’ Alliance” and the Guard colluding with it. What they uncovered was shocking.
Of the 1.5 billion Hika in aid sent over the past fifteen years, evidence showed 1.32 billion had leaked away. Investigations and punishments began.
Five Black Abyss assassin groups were caught. The entire Grandray Guard arrested.
At first some speculated demons were behind it, but astonishingly, it wasn’t. They were all imprisoned, tortured by the Capital Guard.
The scandal filled Hiaka’s papers and broadcasts for days.
The mummified victims were given funerals and rites.
Grandray Central Orphanage finally received the diverted funds and supplies. Odilen was given new clothes. And at last he met his brother Odian, alive, and cried his heart out.
Late at night, Galois brought Dante a bottle of liquor brewed from the 『Curse of Pettiness.』 The old man didn’t say much. He didn’t voice thanks. He simply shared a drink in silence.
As he grew drunk, he snorted.
“...If you’d helped earlier, it would’ve been fine, wouldn’t it? It’s all your fault. You bastard.”
“Shut it, you pathetic old man.”
Pushing past despair, the two men laughed.
Thus ended Dante Hiakapo’s Verification.
***
When the uproar had settled, the 『Curse of Pettiness』 was formally announced to academia.
The first days were tense. Responses were lukewarm. Dante’s expression soured. For a researcher, having a thesis ignored is like having one’s entire life denied. Only Galois watched calmly.
But research and papers are still human affairs. And humans value names over content.
On the third day after publication, a Grand Mage account on the international forum “WizardPatch” posted:
< Oh? Professor Galois of Hiaka published a paper? ^^ >
The royal family praises his great research. Has anyone seen it? ^^
That was the spark. Galois’s name spread, and the academic world took notice. Scholars began to examine the unprecedented 『Curse of Pettiness.』
“Astonishing... a curse that draws people together, without addictiveness or violence....”
“This research is insane... if it can be mass-produced cheaply, the very reason alcohol exists will vanish.”
Scholars spread the news in shock.
The results were explosive.
Emergency conferences in curse studies and magic held across the continent. Media, royals, professors from other nations showered praise.
—Professor Dante! Did you hear!?
Young Professor Odian called Dante three or four times a day with updates, brimming with excitement. Even Galois began to smile. The news of prototype mass production of the “Curse of Pettiness Liquor” put the exclamation point.
“Kyahaha! Put me up for the Obel Prize! Kick that brat off!”
In a faculty meeting, the ninety-year-old climbed on the table and shouted, to everyone’s delight. Even the banquet was joyful.
“Drink up!”
“Wooohhh!”
It freed people like alcohol, yet only amplified pure goodwill and affection. A miraculous liquor.
“Glug-glug! Ahh, good!”
“Come here, Odian!”
Professors who had been awkward with him threw arms over shoulders. Together they danced Hiaka’s traditional steps!
“Wubububub! I’m a monster!”
Chief Professor Galois stuck chopsticks in his nostrils!
“Bwahahahaha!”
“Chief Professor, decorum please!”
“To hell with decorum!!”
A party filled only with laughter. And even afterward, no one regretted it. That was the 『Curse of Pettiness.』
At the end of those joyous days came a press conference at Hiaka Academy. Time for Galois to present his stance, his future plans, and gratitude to those who supported the research.
“Quite a crowd.”
From the waiting room, Dante looked out at the hundred reporters gathered. Two weeks after publication, and things had gone far smoother than expected. In fact, Dante himself had spread Galois’s name among Imperial professors—but that wasn’t sexy to say, so he kept quiet.
“At this point, old man, you know it’s all thanks to me.”
“All thanks to you?”
“Yeah.”
Galois chuckled. Dante expected him to retort as usual. He always did.
“...You’re right.”
But not today.
“Thank you, Dante Hiakapo.”
Dante turned. This old man was acting strange. He still sat there, hands folded as if in prayer. Understandable—this much attention was the first in fifteen years. Dante waited in silence.
At last, Ran signaled from the hall. It was time.
“Let’s go, Chief Professor.”
No answer. Perhaps he’d dozed.
“Chief Professor? It’s time.”
Dante turned to him.
Hands clasped in prayer. Eyes closed. Motionless.
“...Galo...”
Dante fell silent.
“......”
Galois Grandray, having completed his great research for humanity, passed away at the age of 92.