Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The Occupation of Ophelis Hall (6)

“You know, Elris? I got dumped.”

The fifth floor hallway of Ophelis Hall was home to the equipment storage and the maid lounge. Other than that, it only had a utility room and was as quiet as always, despite the events occurring downstairs.

In the first place, the student’s had no reason to go up to the 5th floor. All of the housing rooms were downstairs, and most of the maids were trapped in the 4th floor conference room, so the spacious hallways on the 5th floor were completely quiet.

A commotion was heard from downstairs. It seemed that Ed Rothstaylor had blown things up on a bigger scale than she had originally thought. The bigger the situation, the better news it was for Lortel.

Before long, the cries of the scared Clevius were heard as the students trapped in their rooms became more and more anxious. If the situation became any worse, they would eventually break down their walls and escape.

Elris stood modestly in the dark and looked at the girl speaking to her.

“Elris, you know him too. The one who seems a bit evil and mean when you first look at him.”

“You mean Young Master Ed? The person we met at that camp last time?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s the type of person you like? I didn’t know that.”

“... He’s pretty good looking, but it’s not like that.”

Lortel Kehelland was sitting on top of a wooden cabinet in the equipment storage, drying her hair. She had just finished checking on the situation, to make sure everything was going as planned.

“The smell I get from you, Elris. I thought that I had smelled it coming from him, too. But he ended up making a bunch of emotional comments, which wasn’t right.”

“Is that so?”

“He ended up throwing it all away without hesitation. Saying that I was responsible for my own choices.”

Lortel lifted up her hair, sweeping it away with a smile.

“People that are like us live by hearing those words.”

Elris could neither nod nor shake her head at hearing those words.

Elris was the head maid of Ophelis Hall, who has served as a veteran maid for over 20 years.

At the young age of 15, when she didn’t know anything, she began her career as an apprentice maid. She later became a manager at Ophelis Hall, as she was recognized for her ability relative to her age.

All of the veteran maids held a great level of wisdom, including her. That was why such people couldn’t be easily bought with money.

If you wanted them to do something that went against the beliefs engrained deep in their hearts, you would need to spend a large sum of money—enough to destroy those values.

That was where the largest investment was made to forcefully increase the scale of the occupation of Ophelis Hall event.

Abandoning the job that she had been loyal to her entire life, increasing the scale of the situation, then destroying Ophelis Hall while taking all of the responsibility for these crimes...

If you wanted her to commit such crimes, then you would need a large enough sum of money that would pay for all of the crimes committed and give her a life where she would no longer have to worry about money.

Thanks to that, there was a large hole in the books of Elte Store’s Silvenia Branch. Appropriate investments were essential for greater profits, but it was too much of a loss to just purchase the loyalty of a mere veteran level employee at Silvenia Academy. It wouldn’t be easy to make up.

But Lortel didn’t waste that expense at all.

It was not simply for the sake of an investment or for a greater profit. It was a part of a series of actions that was also an act, to find people that were just like her.

She had seen numerous people that would break their own faith by being attracted to mere gold coins.

They were those that were usually at the end of their rope, or those who were only living their lives, dedicated to small, meaningless beliefs and values.

Such people were not worth being called the same type of person as her.

The real proof was those who threw away their stubborn beliefs and values that they had devoted their entire lives to in the face of those gold coins.

The more noble and valuable those beliefs and values were, the more Lortel’s heart would pound in excitement. That was the only way for her to relieve her sense of loneliness.

“I’m glad that you’re here, Elris.”

Even the veteran maid, who had served the students at Opehlis Hall for more than 20 years, crumbled in the face of greed.

In front of a tower of golden coins, whatever honorable values she had were lost.

Lortel knew all too well that it was all just useless self-consolation.

A life that was led by following gold coins and throwing away everything else... It was nothing more than a psychological defense mechanism to survive living such a life.

Despite her awareness of it, Lortel never stopped searching for her own kind.

“Without you, how could I have ever established such a plan?”

There was no need to stress just how much the involvement of the head maid of Ophelis Hall had contributed as a variable in this situation.

“As things are going, as long as we match the timing of the representative of the lower students, Willain, who is in the 4th floor management room, and half-heartedly give him ownership of the defensive magic that is spread out, then... One way or another, Ophelis Hall will be destroyed.”

Considering the people Lortel had trampled on all her life thus far just to survive, this level was nothing more than a bit cute.

On a straw mat that was laid out in the ghettos, or in the rush of merchants that were risking their lives for a single gold coin...

She lived a life where, if she didn’t stab someone in the back first, she would be stabbed to death.

However, even if it was done just to survive, there was no justification for such an evil deed.

Saying that it was just a means of survival to protect oneself... Although it may be considered commonplace, that didn’t mean that it was justified.

“The situation seems to be going as planned, so I’ll just stay here in the storage room. I have to act like a good student, one that is simply afraid of the ongoing situation and doesn’t know what’s going on. That’s why I hid up here in the storage room in the first place.”

“I understand, Ms. Lortel.”

Regardless of her unfortunate past and the circumstances that pushed her to the corner, Lortel was clearly a villain and a black curtain.

If the afterlife happened to exist, she would surely burn in hell forever.

She was neither understood nor did she deserve sympathy. Lortel knew that fact all too well.

So in the end, the thing that she was looking for was one of her own kind.

She desperately wanted a companion, one who would sink to the bottom of the swamp with her.

Though she knew that there was no way such a person existed.

‘You’re such a pathetic person.’

‘You’ll die in solitude, alone for the rest of your life, never loving someone else like a girl your age should. Or will you have someone that’s like family, who you can open your heart up to?’

Elris sighed with regret at that fact.

... She then took out her rapier and pointed it at Lortel.

“Ms. Lortel. Thinking about it, let me tell you something.”

At this point, for a magician to deal with a sword that was pointed at them at this distance... It could no longer be considered a fight.

“I am not someone like you.”

* * *

“...It’s not as difficult as I thought.”

Ophelis Hall’s third floor hallway.

It was still raining heavily outside the window.

Walking alongside Taylee, they continued to move forward.

Taylee, Ayla, Elvira, Clevius.

They had caught Clevius, who was running away on the 2nd floor, and forced him to join their party.

On the third floor, ‘Kelly, who is in charge of washing bedding’ blocked the parties' way. However, she was defeated in a timely manner.

- “I am sorry, Ms. Elris... I couldn't finish what you entrusted me with...”

Kelly kept talking to herself until they had tied her up and thrown her into a corner of the hallway.

Come to think of it, where did her twin sister, Shaney, who was with Kelly almost every day, go off to?

Of course, Taylee hadn’t considered it up to that point.

“At this pace, we’ll be there in no time...”

And in no time at all, they had arrived on the 4th floor.

Was it because they were nervous? They felt that things were going much better than they had thought.

In the first place, the 1st floor’s difficulty was, oddly, way too difficult. Since then, nobody had tried to strategically attack Taylee’s weakness.

“......”

Elvira had an expressionless look on her face, unlike her usual self.

She kept on thinking of that 2nd year magician, in the midst of burning flames, standing there with his blood soaked shirt rolled up.

His experienced movements, which gave her goosebumps, were the complete opposite of his appearance at the entrance examination. There, he had been rolling on the floor in a disgraceful manner. That fact kept bothering her.

Elvira was someone that was full of pride. The fact that Ed had lost on purpose left a stain on her arrogant character, but she didn’t completely lose her temper.

‘It’s bothering me. I’m sure that he was hiding his true skills.’

It seemed necessary to confirm that fact.

Once Elvira became curious, she wouldn’t stop, no matter the difficulties. Clearly, Ed Rothstaylor had a hidden side that Elvira didn’t know about.

“R-Run away”

Elte’s position within the company was being threatened. Because of that, he tried to turn things around with the purchase of the Sage’s Seal. It was because the Rothstaylor head of house, Krepin Rothstaylor, asked for the book at a ridiculous price.

However, he was eventually sent off after being stabbed in the back by Lortel. After that, he ended his life as a merchant.

And yet, he was at Ophelis Hall.

I didn’t know the process, and I was only left with the end result.

What had happened, and where did it take place? How it had all ended up getting this twisted was completely beyond my understanding. It would have been arrogant to try and figure it all out at this point.

However, it was possible to infer what would happen in the future.

Maid Shaney and Maid Kelly, the twins who were completely loyal to Head Maid Elris.

Amongst them, the fact that Shaney was already in contact with the Golden King Elte this soon meant... That Head Maid Elris and the Golden King Elte were secretly in contact with each other.

But in the original timeline, it was clear that Head Maid Elris had been completely bought out by Lortel.

She received a huge sum of money from her and took on the entire responsibility for not properly managing Opehlis Hall’s defensive magic circle.

After receiving various disciplinary actions, as well as punishment from the workplace that she had been loyal to for decades, she had completely let go of her career.

She was not a person that could be simply bought over with a bit of money. Elris was a person who held firm beliefs and values.

Though, how Lortel ended up being able to buy over such a person through money wasn’t explained in much detail. I had just assumed that she must have given her a ridiculously large sum of money.

In the first place, Lortel was able to entice even the most noble and honorable of men to break their faith in the face of money.

However, the scene I was looking at was clearly different from the original timeline. That definitely looked like...

“Ed... You’ll catch a cold...! Your body temperature is also dropping because you lost so much blood!”

Yennekar, who followed after me, took off the shawl that was under her robe and approached me, quickly wrapping it around me.

“You’re making me so upset! Seriously!”

“Yennekar.”

“Uh, hm?”

This is not a situation in which I could just sit still. I hadn’t figured it all out yet, but I could predict enough of what would happen in the future.

“I have a favor to ask you. It’s urgent, and it might be too much for me to handle by myself.”

With her arms stretched out, wrapping the shawl over me, Yennekar kept listening to me absent-mindedly... then she tilted her head.

It was clear what Yennekar’s answer would be. Hearing something like that, out of the blue, most people would ask about the situation first—saying things like, ‘What is it? Is it urgent? What did you get caught up in? Explain the situation first.’

How could I explain it so that Yennekar would agree to help...? How could I explain the gist of the situation in a short time and in as much detail as possible...? While I was thinking about how I should explain, Yennekar immediately replied.

“Alright.”

Was it because she was being considerate, since I said it was urgent? Or did she really just not care about things like that from the beginning?

“What should I do?”

She skipped all the usual questions, and asked me straight up, in such a cool way, exactly what she needed to do. I thought to myself that I had really made such a great friend.

* * *

[ Letter sent to Elte Kehelland ]

Greetings, most honorable head of the Elte Store, the Golden King, Elte Kehelland.

My name is Elris, and I am the head maid at the prestigious Silvienia Academy’s Ophelis Hall.

When you finish reading this letter, it will burn to ashes with an Ignite magic circle that is imprinted on it. Please be careful, so that you do not get burnt.

Even though we have not yet met, the reason I am writing to you, who must be extremely busy, is because of your adopted daughter, Ms. Lortel Kehelland.

In order to purchase the ‘Sage’s Seal’ as you had ordered, she is creating a financial crisis in Silvenia's academic affairs department by inducing the destruction of Ophelis Hall.

The plan is progressing at a fast pace. Sooner or later, it is certain that I, Elris, the head maid here at Ophelis Hall, will fulfill my duty.

If the plan ends well, Silvenia’s academic affairs’ finances will be in a tight spot. Thus, the Elte Store will have an overwhelming advantage in regards to the purchase of the ‘Sage’s Seal.’

However, ‘for a certain reason’ I have come to know her true intentions.

Mr. Elte. Your adopted daughter, Ms. Lortel Kehelland, is not your ally. You must never trust her.

She knows the truth. She knows that you killed her biological parents. I also know about the fact that you had recognized her talent, drove her life into a corner, and forced her to take your hand.

She is planning to coax the top six Elte merchants and executives without your knowledge to force you to step down as the head of Elte Store.

The negotiations for the purchase of the Sage’s Seal is also bait to attract your attention to Silvenia Academy, thus preventing you from dealing with any unexpected events that may occur at any moment back at Elte’s headquarters.

I am keeping the secret letters from her room, as it could later serve as evidence.

Though she thinks that she definitely burned them in the incinerator before disposing of them, it’s the maid's job to light the incinerator.

No matter how thorough she was, she would have never thought that the maids of Ophelis Hall would go through each scrap of paper that went into the incinerator.

I am always prepared for her.

No matter which way this situation ends up going, I will be punished for my failure at properly managing Ophelis Hall.

If I give out Lortel’s name, then I will not be the only one who falls into hell.

However, there is no such thing as free work in this world.

On the condition that I remain silent on the matter, I was promised a huge sum of gold coins by her.

The only thing that would block a huge sum of gold coins would be an even larger sum of gold coins.

The content I have listed on the attached paper are the names of the ‘organizations’ I secretly and regularly manage. The number of gold coins that are delivered to those organizations will determine my actions.

I am losing my eyesight and, for some reason, I have almost completely lost my sense of hearing. There is no reason for me to explain the reason in detail, but this year will probably be the last that I can work as the head maid.

I am the only person who knows all of the facts of this situation, and I am someone who is in a tight spot with no one supporting me anymore. Depending on which side I’m going to support, the situation may become either more complicated or simpler.

I hope you will be merciful and judge wisely.

- Sincerely, Ophelis Hall’s Head Maid, Elris

[ Attached Sheet ]

Seren Region, Crook’s Orphanage

Kohelton Orphan Shelter

Athens Crocell Orphan Shelter

Odell Region, Alton Orphanage

Temil Region, Public Orphan Shelter

* * *

“Ed...! You’re injured! If you move too fast, your wounds will open up...!”

What I had come to realize was that the variables in the world were too complex to control all of them.

All I could do was give my best effort. All I was doing was taking care of the larger variables, so that there wouldn’t be any problems.

While pushing through the rain with Yennekar, I was organizing my thoughts.

I didn’t know why, but... If Elris had really betrayed Lortel, it was safe to say that the fall of Lortel would be inevitable.

How important was Lortel Kehelland to the original timeline?

In Act 3, she needed to confront Princess Penia and lead a political battle within the school. She had an important role in gathering talents for the right mountain’s scouting mission. And she played an active role as a representative of the top forces during the Lucy Subjugation... She was someone that held a tremendous level of importance.

In Act 4, she had the position of being one of the helpers on the protagonist’s team, which would develop into a great friendly force that would directly confront the Rothstaylor family... Other than that, she had a major influence in other, smaller episodes as well. It would be impossible to list them all.

The fall of Lortel.

It is just one sentence that would break down the entirety of all those scenarios.

Lortel Kehelland disappearing from the storyline... That was a dark world that I would have no information about. Future knowledge and my informational advantage would completely collapse, and I wouldn’t be left with a single advantage.

But if I could completely fill in the role of Lortel... It might have been possible, but it would be a very difficult and arduous road. I’d been saying this like it was some sort of habit, but it was already hard enough for me to make ends meet. Adding in that kind of hard work was something I absolutely rejected.

Unless I was planning to give up on my degree at this school and go out to live a life in an unknown fantasy world... Lortel Kehelland’s exit from the story was absolutely unacceptable.

“Yennekar, do you happen to know where Ziggs’ room is? I think I am going to need to ask him for help as well.”

“Uhmm? Well.... Since we aren’t that close... I’m not sure.”

“... Alright, we’ll just have to look everywhere then. He may have already escaped from the building.”

Wiping the rain running down my face, we came back to the main entrance of Ophelis Hall. The evacuated students were running around screaming, unsure of what to do.

The occupation of Ophelis Hall was coming to an end.

Since the defensive magic had been activated, the faculty would be arriving in a few minutes.

Lortel Kehelland was a person that couldn’t be sympathized with or understood just because she had fallen. No matter how dramatic her situation may be, she was a true villain.

Encouraging good and punishing evil, the universe corrects all wrongs, justice will always triumph.

All of those were true sayings, but we had to ignore the lessons that came from such folktales for now.

The existence of a black curtain that covered all the truth on the stage was indispensable.

Nobody knew what direction the villain's missing storyline would go, or how the snowball would roll. It could end up destroying the world.

In the falling rain, at the main entrance of Ophelis Hall.

Thinking of how to deal with the situation to the best of my ability, I looked up at the half-destroyed Ophelis Hall with Yennekar.