“Walk, walk...!♪”
When the retriever chirped excitedly, the doberman thought as well,
‘...Walk...♪’
Off they went together for a fun walk!
They went home, woke Cain from his nap, splashed water on his face, and headed outside together.
By the time they made it down the road, it was a pleasant early summer.
Warm sunlight!
A cool breeze!
Beautiful roads and mountain views!
And lemon trees in full bloom!
While they trotted along together, feeling mentally full to the brim, the slow-stepping Professor Cain fell down.
“Oof!”
Elize and Balmung hurried over, lifted the child up. Elize brushed his hair; Balmung dusted the dirt off his cheek. Then they set off running again.
A walk...!
When they reached a broad flat, there was a man kindling a fire there. Dante Hiakapo.
“Meat?”
“Yeees♪”
“...I like meat too.”
“...Me as well.”
So next came meat time. Barbecue!
Dante grilled thick beef, tripe, mushrooms, and potatoes and shared them with everyone.
As if that weren’t enough, he took premade dough from a ceramic bowl, and it turned into wonderful bread.
“......Shall I make you a sandwich.”
“No.”
“......Shall I make you a ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) hamburger.”
“No.”
“......I bought a few cocktail ingredients—shall I at least make you one of these.”
“Oh, that sounds quite good.”
And so, under a view where water ran down the ridgeline in the distance, the four of them ate their fill of meat, bread, mushrooms, and sauce. Professor Dante enjoyed a cocktail. A mojito.
“......Mm. I... like the weather....”
When Cain blinked beside him and reached out, spacing out to filch a sip, Dante whisked the glass away; disappointment dripped from Cain’s eyes. Kids aren’t supposed to drink.
Meanwhile the two of them started fighting over a bone.
“It’s mine!”
“No, you’ve already got two. Are you a pig?”
“I am a pig. I am a pig. They’re all mine.”
Bickering.
In the meantime, Cain nestled into Dante’s arms. Beneath the fine scenery, a very shallow breathing could be heard. Saaa, saaa... Crafted so that everything moved slowly, this child’s breathing was slow as well.
“...Are you okay?”
At the lazily spilled question, Dante slowly raised his head.
He saw the sky. A perfectly beautiful sky to suit a perfect world.
“I don’t know.”
“...If you don’t know, what do we do?”
“I’m no god. I’m not much different from you. What you don’t know, I don’t know either.”
“......”
“Even so, this view is enough.”
Later, on the way back after the walk, Cain stopped blankly in front of a big lakeshore.
“Don’t.”
Dante stopped him quickly.
A lake is, by definition, standing water. Dirty.
Besides, laundry magic is an ultra-advanced telekinetic magic, and no one in this domain knew how to use it.
Even so, Cain eyed him.
“......”
“I said no, Cain.”
“......”
“I said no.”
But he went in anyway.
Splash!
Elize seemed like she’d rush to stop him, but no—Splash! She threw herself into the lake too.
“Kyaa!”
“Ehehe!”
Next, Balmung snuck a glance. Since Dante looked appalled, he tried to drag the child and the woman back by the scruffs.
For some reason, he couldn’t overcome Elize’s strength and looked to be dragged in instead; in the end the bastard went into the lake too.
“Ahahahaha!”
“...I’m sorry, professor. I lost. I lack strength...”
Bloody hell.
Dante knew perfectly well Balmung had gone in on his own two feet.
“...Now all three of you are dirty.”
Dante laughed in disbelief. Three pairs of eyes were looking this way. So what. Is the problem that such-and-such clothes get dirty? No. There was no reason to be tied down by useless frames. So now it was his turn.
Splash—
This was the Baron Lemontree domain where everything is perfect.
***
Trashy Forbtime of Assassination Daily had hold of an exclusive.
An exclusive among exclusives.
Gasp.
Among the many cartels on the continent, there is one group evaluated as the most dangerous cartel in the world.
An organization shrouded in a veil that the Empire, the Kingdom, and countless groups beyond the borders all keep wary eyes on. The Hiaka Academy Cartel.
Gulp.
Beyond Hiaka, beyond the Empire, spreading across the whole continent—the fanatical religious group Dominion❆.
“Uh... uh...”
Kendreik—the unidentifiable assassin whose line between human and monster is hard to draw!
“Fufuh... Uhuhut...”
Quan—the bizarre assassin whose identity even the Imperial Intelligence Service couldn’t grasp!
“......”
Kaiser—the mastermind stretching hands across the continent, starting with the Empire!
Up to now, there were only suspicions that, since they hailed from the same homeland, there might be a subtle connection between them. A supposition from Imperial Intelligence.
And now the secret meeting place of those three—
was discovered by none other than me.
A section chief for Assassination Daily. Nine years of service. Sixteen-time “Reporter of the Month.” Twice a finalist for the Pulichev Prize. 3rd place with 1,011 votes in the “Readers’ Choice Reporter of the Year.” The man who will become the strongest reporter in this world...
I, Trashy Forbtime!
‘Ahh, this is...’
A super exclusive!
‘Damn, but it’s too far!’
Naturally so—he hadn’t come to peep knowing anything in particular.
He’d come for another purpose, but a reporter’s instinct made him turn his head, and he just happened to spot them in a shabby old hole-in-the-wall.
‘Ears, do your best! Hear the sound! Hear it! ...Ugh! Useless. I can’t hear a thing.’
Then only his eyes could be trusted. He raised his camera and cranked the zoom. All three faces were grave. What conversation would those three be exchanging?
Saying you can’t know is only an excuse. If you track their movements and observe closely, you can know.
How terrifying a plan it must be...!!
He took out his notebook; his hand began writing the article headline.
⋮
At the same time, Kendreik raised a knife with a murderous look.
Shiiing—
At early dusk, the light flashed off the blade.
Kendreik plunged the knife tip into the red-pepper sauce and popped the meat into his mouth.
“Uu.”
Meaning: tastes good.
“...Kendreik. Don’t pick up your food with a knife.”
“Ueh?”
“If you cut your mouth on something sharp, it will hurt. Please use a fork.”
Kendreik whipped his head away and pretended not to hear.
He was going to be stubborn.
“Don’t ignore me. I was pre-med!”
“......”
When Kendreik looked him up and down and snorted, Kaiser bristled. He really was!
“Hm. Kendreik. Being stubborn, are we? One day you might rip your mouth open wide with that knife, you know?”
“......”
“Put it down and use a fork!”
Kendreik turned his body away again and pretended not to see, but Quan chuckled and said,
“Kendreik. Do you believe in magic?”
“U-eh?”
Then he snapped his fingers.
Click!
A surprising thing happened. The knife was, at some point, in Quan’s hand.
“Tada!”
Kendreik was flustered. No way!
“U-Ueh...!?”
Since when?
No—then what was in his own hand?
He looked down: a fork.
It wasn’t magic. Astonishing sleight of hand. The classic switcheroo!
“Instead of the knife, eat with that...!”
Quan thrust the knife forward to point at the fork!
Kendreik—shocked by the sudden trick—sprang up and stared at the fork in dismay!
Kaiser clapped with a satisfied face!
⋮
< First Report: Kaiser and Quan threaten Kendreik with a knife. Kendreik says he ‘feels deep betrayal...’ >
⋮
They soon dug in diligently. This was a bar they often visited during their Dormant Dragon cadet days. A place steeped in their memories.
“Ueh, ueh!”
“Quan-hah! Delicious.”
The auntie’s touch was still outstanding. Marinated short ribs, roasted potatoes, jeon fried crisp like fritters, and even fried chicken. Traditional Hiakan dishes they’d missed while living abroad.
But—
there was one thing here they had to keep an eye on.
“Hands where I can see them. Are you palming from the bottom.”
“U-eh?”
“You just pulled one leg from under the plate, didn’t you? Now you’re trying to nab the second leg too? Kendreik. Do I look like some greenhorn to you?”
“...Ueh got prooof?”
“Proof? I’ve got proof. You hid the drumstick behind the plate. Don’t touch that chicken! Or I’ll take your hand off!”
Kaiser froze.
Cold. A dagger lodged in his chest. But the hand is quicker than the eye.
Kaiser nodded, feinted for a wing, then took a leg!
“Hey!? You lame bastard!”
By the time Kendreik lunged, the drumstick was already in Kaiser’s mouth.
And wouldn’t you know it, a chicken has only two legs, and Quan was the only one who didn’t get one.
“Ka-hahaha!”
“Uehehe!”
Quan trembled...
⋮
< Second Report: Quan explodes after losing in a brutal struggle over interests. Kaiser’s ‘disciplining the underling.’ >
⋮
Meanwhile, there’s a thing that can’t be left out with this kind of food:
red wine.
Strictly speaking, not a wine—by now a Hiaka specialty called Neotenic No.1, the so-called “Galois Wine.” Redder than ordinary liquor.
“All right, one glass each.”
“Sounds good!”
“Ueh!”
All they had were clear tumbler glasses, but who cares when drinking with friends?
Kaiser poured the red liquid in a rush and handed the glasses over.
“To us!”
Clink!
⋮
< Third Report: The mastermind Kaiser presides over a blood-red pact. At last, they enter a rite of death. >
⋮
As they tipped their glasses, Kaiser’s [Crystal Orb] chimed; his eyes went wide.
“He’s here.”
“Ooh? Really!?”
“Ueh!”
Even Kendreik, rarely, was glad to welcome him—the one who opened the door and came in was Dante Hiakapo.
Hiaka’s new Constellation who’d become a recluse. The world’s hero who saved Hiaka and the Academy from the two-horned demons. The genius professor who kept demons across the continent from hiding among humans.
That man had appeared at this shabby drinking table!
Whatever a reporter outside might be freaking out about, Kaiser twitched his frozen facial muscles into a smile, and at the same time took Dante’s hand. With both of his.
“I’ve been waiting.”
“Right. We’ve got a lot to say.”
“Yes.”
Kendreik went “Ueh ueh” in greeting, and Dante answered “Ueh” as well.
Tonight was a special gathering.
In various places each of them had been called a mastermind, but surprisingly, none of them had wanted that.
With the greatest threat to humanity—the two-horned demons—killed, there was no more reason to play at meaningless mastermind games.
Things had grown too big to walk back... but at least there was no longer any need to expand influence from within mental anguish like before.
“When I realized a three-horned demon was inside your body, professor, I can’t tell you how hopeless I felt. I’m truly grateful you’re still with us like this...”
Dante curled his lip in a smile.
Quan slit his long eyes even thinner and looked at Dante’s face.
“The apotheosis is complete. So is my role. And yours—now it’s all finished.”
“That’s right.”
Even after a story is complete, the characters go on living inside it. It’s no different for assassins or masterminds.
The future is open.
What’s curious is their past.
“Kaiser. Are you actually insane?”
“Sir?”
For the first time Dante set aside his veneer and laughed as he spoke.
“How the hell did you do it. Dominion❆!”
“Ahh...! Professor... Professor! U-huhuhuk!”
After that Kaiser’s “concept” broke and he suddenly started sobbing; everything that had happened was the miracle of miracles in his life.
“Does that even make sense? Ahahahaha!”
Dante, loosened by drink, laughed and patted him.
The bastard had truly lived as a legend.
“And what’s with your eyes.”
“Sir?”
“The vertical pupils.”
“Ah!”
Kaiser popped out his eyeballs to show them.
“They’re circle lenses... 😭”
⋮
< Fourth Report: Dominion❆ testimony hour. The mastermind Kaiser breaks down before a Constellation and testifies to a miracle... >
⋮
Luckily, the article never went out.
Trashy realized late—
Assassination Daily was a subordinate organization of Dominion❆.
‘Aaaagh! The claws of these insane cultists even here!’
...No wonder their reporting was so lukewarm!