Chapter 44: The Prohibition

“…the fog is coming.”

On the way to the designated luxury clothing store, Andy suddenly looked up at the sky next to Sharon, who was window shopping.

“Mr. Andy, what’s wrong?”

“Well, it’s nothing. For that matter, what do you think of this dress?”

“Yeah, uh… yeah.”

Sharon nodded awkwardly to Andy, who felt slightly uncomfortable, but changed the subject that there was no need to talk about it.

”……..Mr. Andy.”

The old butler, who doubled as his escort and guard, quietly approached Andy and whispered something to him.

He was a skilled explorer who had been able to reach close to the lowest levels, but when he became too old, he retired and was hired by the Mercia family.

When he returned with a nervous look on his face, Andy realized that his hunch was correct.

“Sharon, the weather’s going to be bad. We’ll should go back.”

“…and…uh…what about Letty?”

Sharon looks uneasy because of the absence of Fleurety, the person Sharon trusts the most. The old butler, who quickly returns to a mild expression, smiles at her.

“Miss Fleurety is on her way to do some shopping, but she’ll be back soon.”

“…I see.”

What would that Fleurety do without telling her? Even though she was holding that thought, she followed Andy who was trying to leave this place, and as Sharon started to walk away as well, it happened.

Gaga gaga gaga gaga gaga………!

Plants rose through the cobblestones and beyond the roof of the building – covering this entire city section – and covered the sky like a birdcage.

“What’s happening!”

“Mr. Andy, Miss Sharon, come quickly.”

“Okay.”

Using normal common sense, they tried to move away from the green cage to the central square – a place with a lot of people, but it put the three of them in a tight spot.

”……..What?”

Many people had gathered in the central square of the high-class business district.

But the citizens, who had expected to be confused and noisy, didn’t shout or cower in fright, they just stood there in silence.

“What is that smell…?”

Sharon, who was sensitive to the sweet smell, looked around and saw something thin and tree-like in the middle of the central square where the people gathered, and a huge flower that bloomed.

Something like pollen suddenly erupted from that flower, and the sweet smell in the area became even stronger.

”What on earth…?”

“What is going on?”

That’s when Sharon and Andy felt no particular impact and looked at each other to see what they should do.

”Ugh.”

Suddenly, the old butler kneels painfully.

”What’s the matter?”

“…run for your life. This is the pollen of a plant with a hypnotic effect deep in the dungeon. I can’t even…”

“Hey, you need to get yourself together.”

“I’m…sorry…for…uh…the…”

“Hya!”

Sharon let out a small scream at the old butler who suddenly let out a distorted voice.

“Sharon, let’s getaway!”

“And he…”

“Now think of your safety! The others found us, too.”

“What?”

The citizens who had been just standing around were all coming towards them at once as if they had finally found their prey.

”Hurry up!”

Andy threw off the old butler, who reached out his hand and started to run, pulling Sharon’s stiffening hand. If there is any salvation it would be that the manipulated people walk slow like puppets.

”…………”

“Mr. Andy, get over here.”

“Fuck.”

As a knight, Andy, couldn’t slay the people even though they were manipulated.

”Forgive me!”

He can only kick them away or hit them with a sheath to avoid injury as much as possible, but they still get up as if they don’t feel pain.

From the looks of it, if they really want to stop them, they’ll have to bruise their whole body so that they can’t move by hitting them to the very edge of not dying.

“Ha… ha…. ha….ha….”

“Sharon, I’m going to pick you up.”

“Yikes!”

Sharon is starting to run out of breath as she runs away, and Andy picks her up and runs off.

“But, I’m heavy!”

“You are light.”

“Mr. Andy….”

It’s true that compared to the heavy armor he wears in training, Sharon and the like would be light.

But his strength is limited. The streets, which had been sparsely populated until then, were filled with manipulated people from all the buildings.

”Uh……..”

“Mr. Andy?”

Andy suddenly grunted and fell to his knees. He still lowered Sharon to the ground without dropping her, and she hurried to his side.

”A-Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry but I guess I’m not going to be able to…”

“Oh no…”

Sharon gulps as she looks like she’s about to cry.

“Leave me … and run … quickly.”

“I can’t just leave Mr. Andy behind!”

“They’re going to come after you, the only one with more ego than me… quickly… find Miss Fleurety…”

“Mr. Andy!”

Andy smiled slightly at Sharon and touched her cheek as if admonishing a child who didn’t listen.

”I want to … protect you.”

As he was about to say something, strange noises began to escape from Andy’s mouth.

The next thing she knows, people controlled from all directions were quietly closing in on Sharon, and her escape route was blocked.

Sharon might be able to break through if she used her attack magic. But as a nobleman, Sharon is determined to protect her people, she can’t hurt her people.

She won’t give up until the end. ……..But Sharon also realizes that it’s only a matter of time. Her only regret is that she won’t be able to be with her friend, that girl at the end.

“I’m sorry. Letty.”

“Creepy……….”

“…ugh!”

At that moment, a chill ran through Sharon as the hair of her entire body stood up.

The daylight that had been there, even though the sky was covered with vines, instantly turned into a dark night, and in that slight vision, Sharon saw the shadow of a giant spider.

“Here you are, milady.”

“…Letty!”

For a moment, her fainting consciousness is brought back by the voice of one of the maids.

”Letty……..”

She hugged the maid with a tearful voice, and the maid stroked her head with a very gentle hand.

“You have done your best.”

The next thing she knows, all of the people who had been manipulated had fallen to the ground. As if their consciousness had been torn away by a tremendous force.

Still, they didn’t seem to be dead, twitching, and struggling to get up, but no one seemed to be able to move properly.

“There are still people who have been manipulated. Let’s retrieve Mr. Andy and the Butler and get them out.”

“Uh-huh.”

Sharon stands up as well, wiping her tears away.

“But………”

“…What?”

“I wonder what’s going on here.”

“What happened……… The people who had fallen suddenly stopped moving, and those who had been approaching from afar also began to fall on the spot.”

”Letty, look at that…”

A light shone from the heavens and the vines of the plants that had covered the sky began to wither in the blink of an eye. The sweet scent that had filled the air was blown away by the wind, and it was all back to normal.

”This is a good opportunity. Do you want to escape like this?”

When Fleurety asked, seeing that the danger was over, for now, Sharon took a deep breath and then shook her head firmly.

”No, let’s attend to the fallen people. Letty, can you help me?”

“Yes, of course. Milady.”

“What the…. what the… what the hell…?”

Minami stood in front of the old mirror in her room at the school, horrified.

This complete incident was caused by Minami.

She wanted to make Sharon the villainous daughter, she would put up the divine white face and made Sharon hated.

However, Sharon continued to stand firm no matter what was done to her. Minami’s target Mr. Sei and Mr. Hao looked at Sharon with admiration, rather than dislike.

“That was unacceptable.”

With that thought in mind, Minami thought about killing Sharon.

Would Minami be calm as usual, she would notice how short-sighted this method is. But at the time, she couldn’t think of anything else.

When Minami heard that Sharon and Fleurety were going out of town, she sent the three royal palace maids to the same place to do some shopping.

With the skill that Minami possessed [Green Hand], the magic that she had applied for several days without sleep or rest was close to a curse. The carnivorous plant seeds that she had planted in the three maids would cover the city, and the manipulated human would kill Sharon.

As it is indeed a curse, it will continue to chip away at Minami’s life force as long as it is activated, but as long as she is conscious, it is impossible to lift it.

To check the situation, she was watching the scene with the treasure – the Mirror of Distant View, which she got because she seduced a butler to bring it from the palace.

”……..Why…….Kyah!”

In front of Minami, who continued to watch the scene in stunned amazement, the 【Distant View Mirror】 cracked finely as if it was being eroded by power.

As she, possessed by fear, staggered towards the door to escape, the door opened quietly before she could open it.

”…Hello, Miss Minami.”

“Miss Clarice…”

It was Clarice, the other “heroine” with whom Minami had made a pact.

Clarice scowled formally as she noticed the debilitating Minami and the residue of the curse that remained in the room.

“I knew you caused this incident. Why are you a saintly woman commits this crime?'”

“A crime! In this game.”

“This world is real.”

The cold gaze, which was loaded with contempt, frightened Minami backward as if she was being pressured.

“Yes, that’s right, this is not the time for this! Kamishiro turned into a monster, so…”

“Camisillo … ah, you mean Miss Fleurety? It’s true, her abilities are monstrous.”

“No! She’s a real monster, in the mirror…”

“………it’s broken. It’s one of the treasures of this country… How foolish of you to destroy ‘my’ property without permission.”

“No, it was she…”

“I don’t even want to talk to you anymore.”

Clarice interrupted Minami’s words as she spat them out and began chanting her magic with her palms facing Minami.

”Wha, what,”

“[Mental destructiveness]”

A spell of mental destruction. It was a forbidden spell, and could only be obtained in the innermost part of an ancient dungeon. But Clarice, who had reached that point in a previous life’s game, remembered the spell.

“Okay.”

Minami crumbles down like a doll whose strings have been cut.

Even though it is called mental destruction, it does not completely cripple, the effect is the erasure of memories.

Even so, it’s an inhumane spell that causes people to forget even their language, but it’s safe to say that the curse Minami had placed was gone.

All that’s left is to take a few years to build up a new personality and become a user of a skill that is convenient for Clarice.

”It would be annoying if people think I’m related to you for causing such an incident.”

Throwing these last cold words and glance at her, Clarice turns her back on Minami.

“Everything in this world belongs to me, so I don’t need someone to drag me down as a queen.”

In the end – Clarice looked back for a moment, wondering what Minami had been so afraid of, but all that was there was a mirror that had completely lost its function and was cracked like a spider’s web.