Chapter 102 – The North Cross Alliance

I coughed from the dust that flew all over as the explosion slowly cleared out… Seems like I was barely on time. This could have taken me out if Kageyama didn’t have the <Phantom> skill of the <Black Magic> tree to block this attack… I should be more wary of things like suicide attacks in the future, they’re quite dangerous.

Once the dust settled down, I looked around for a bit and saw that it caused a vast amount of destruction, it maybe blew up a whole half of the mansion? It wasn’t much of a problem because I wanted to kill him from the beginning, but what about the princess?

I turned around to look at her and, “I’m surprised you’re unharmed.” I told her. Did she also have a skill that allowed her to dodge the explosion? Though I don’t think she’d have anything that would be able to protect her from an attack as strong as this one, so it’s probably something else… Nevermind that, let’s focus on the other thing, “I’d like to hear more about that poetry the Marquis was reciting to you.” I told her.

… She glared at me, and then turned her head away. I suppose it can’t be helped for now, though it was a bit disappointing that the Marquis not only seemed to not blame the princess, but also tried to establish some form of communication with her, this part of the plan was a complete failure.

“Oh well, let’s keep going.” I told her and left the ruined mansion aiming for the next one.

******

(Princess Feera’s PoV)

“I wonder how many more should I kill…” The woman said. She was quite the unusual one. Even though she had such a gentle and kind expression when we first met, she was actually quite crazy. Even though she had such a strong affection towards her mother, she had no empathy towards anybody else… I couldn’t understand her.

“What do you think, princess? How many more should die?” She asked me… I didn’t reply. She didn’t even seem to view people as anything more than toys. She asked this kind of horrible question without batting an eye, she is unforgiving, and she just creates this horrible opera of death just for the sake of pleasing some non-existent spectators… I can’t even pretend to be indifferent to the things she does.

“I wonder how many I’ve gotten rid of already.” She said as she kicked the head of a Viscount from the second prince’s faction… It really seemed like killing was something absolutely mundane for her. Her common sense was so out of place that I did not even comprehend how to judge her… And to think that she already killed seven noble houses that were under my brothers’ rules… It’s unbelievable.

“Hopefully this should have bought enough time for the Empire to recover, right?” She said as she started dissecting the bodies of the soldiers she just killed, “What’s wrong?” She asked. I could no longer endure it, so I turned away and puked while she did ‘her work’… Why is she so disrespectful to even the dead? Why can she treat it as something as mundane as tapping a desk…? Why is she like this? I don’t understand…

“Well, I guess I’ll have to go back for now. Gotta go to school tomorrow after all.” She suddenly said… I was glad to hear it, it means today’s hell is finally over… I can hardly believe there is a school she can attend, but I’ll just accept it even if it is a lie.

My only hope were the last words that Marquis Gawain told me, ‘The bad witch will be thrown on the fire.’ I’m sure he did something to help me, I’ll pray that what he did succeeded… And may he rest in peace.

“Then, princess, let’s go home-“ She started saying, but was interrupted by a mysterious person.

“Are you the Genocider?” He said… Who was he? I never saw him before.

“Who? And I don’t like that name.” She replied… Just who is Genocider? Is it her?

“Oh, me? I’m Ricardo, from the North Cross Alliance.” The man replied.

“Never heard of it.” The woman instantly told him.

“Really? The guild is fairly large and famous though… Well, that’s alright.” As they talked, lots of people with outfits similar to Ricardo’s started crawling out of the ruins all around us.

“That’s quite a few people. What do you want of me?” The woman asked him.

“To recruit you. We’re one of the largest Chaos guilds, so I think it would be a mutually beneficial deal for you to join us.” He told her.

I was worried she’d get even more firepower by getting those men as allies, but she instantly told him, “Don’t wanna, it would be a hassle.” I was happily surprised to see this unexpected rejection. Gods know what would happen if she were to join a strong group of Chaos-aligned beings…

“That’s a pity… Well, in that case, I guess I should tell you that we’re also bounty hunters. Since you don’t want to join us, I suppose we’ll have to PK you now.” What did he just say? What was that word near the end? I couldn’t quite get what he meant.

The woman seemed to understand though, and she smiled, “Oh? If you wanted to ‘play’, you should have just said so from the start!” And as she said that, she quickly and without hesitation beheaded him… Why does she smile when she does this kind of thing? Why is she like this…? “Well then, princess, let us… Oh my.”

Something strange happened. As Rena turned around to speak to me, a sword pierced her belly… Just what is happening here? “I thought I beheaded you.” The woman said as she turned her head around to look at the man that just stabbed her.

“You don’t know of it? It’s an instant revival item.” He replied while taking the sword out of her body… He was smiling at first, but then, his expression turned to one of confusion.

Because even though she was just stabbed, Rena was laughing, “Why are you laughing!?” The man asked her. He seemed afraid.

“Why else? Because I can ‘play’ as much as I want now.” She said without stopping her laugher.

“Alright everyone, get ready! The guild leader won’t go easy on us if we fail!” One of the man’s allies said, and everyone else in the surroundings seemed to be taking out weapons… But there was no way she’d be endangered by this kind of thing when even Marquis Gawain’s sacrifice didn’t take her out. It was futile.