Chapter 273: Chapter 236: Head-On Confrontation (1)

After that hellish evaluation came to an end,

I returned to the dorm in a daze as I looked at the window before my eyes.

[ An important event related to Target ‘Seras’ will occur soon! ]

[ There is a high chance that it will greatly affect the ‘Club Operation’!]

I know. You don’t need to tell me that.

Even though all the applicants said all sorts of things that made my head hurt, Victoria was the one who stood out the most out of them all.

…She’s definitely a vessel.

It only flashed for a moment in her eyes, but that was definitely the Aura of the Purple Devil.

I had said this repeatedly, but the Devil’s Fragments would always try to gather themselves inside a Vessel’s body.

They’d inevitably come into contact with each other using all kinds of ways, just like this.

“...”

With a frown on my face, I let out a deep sigh.

But why is it in Victoria’s body out of everyone?

**

This is just way beyond fucked, nothing could ever come close to this…

[Is it that big of a problem?]

“What?”

[Won’t this make it easier for you to deal with her? Since she’s related to a Devil, she’ll be easily influenced by you, no?]

“Caliban, do you know how Eleanor ended up as a Devil’s Vessel?”

[Hm?]

“It was because of her mother. She was originally a Devil’s Vessel, but when she passed away, the Fragment was passed on to Eleanor.”

[...]

I couldn’t see his face, but I could tell that he was probably clamping his mouth shut while frowning.

Well, of course he’d react like that, as this wasn’t a very pleasant story to hear.

[...I’ve guessed as much, but what about it?]

“To put it simply, that’s the condition.”

[What?]

“You see, if the Fragment is dwelling inside a lifeform, the existing Vessel has to die in order for that Fragment to move elsewhere.”

[...]

“As I’ve said earlier, the Fragments would always try to gather themselves in one place. So, what do you think would happen if two Vessels possessing the Fragments of the same Devil meet each other?”

Hearing what I said, Caliban closed his mouth, shocked.

He wasn’t stupid, he must’ve understood what I was trying to say.

And the groan that came out with his reply afterwards, proved my conjecture.

[...They’re gonna try to kill each other…]

I rubbed my forehead, unwilling to confirm his words with my own mouth.

“...There’s also the fact that those two are sisters, Caliban.”

I continued my words, even I could notice the exhaustion in my voice.

“There’s no way I’d let the Devils make people around me kill their family or be killed by their family…”

[Then what are you going to do?]

“...”

I’d need to make the two of them settle eventually.

Since something like this appeared on the System Window, their confrontation was pretty much inevitable no matter how hard I tried to prevent it.

But, the problem here was…

“...That isn’t the only problem we have here…”

Eleanor, Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, and Faenol, who, for some reason had became extremely aggressive—

There was more than one headache that I had to deal with.

Each of them were like house-sized boulders threatening to fall on this countryside-pond-like club.

But, I couldn’t just carelessly make my move…

[ ‘Club’ creation confirmed! ]

[ A special level of interest in the Target Group confirmed! ]

[ How the upcoming Main Quest - Chapter 5, ‘The Empire’s Great Turmoil’ will progress depends on how you run the Club! ]

…Because something like this popped up.

Which meant a huge event concerning Eleanor, Iliya, Her Majesty the Empress, Chancellor Sullivan, maybe even Duke Tristan and Margrave Kendride, would occur..

Everything that I did might determine the life and death of those people. I needed to handle this carefully.

“...”

Seriously though, how could running a club determine the fate of the most powerful nation on the continent? This shit just didn’t make any sense. But, one thing for sure was that the System Window had never lied to me so far, so it wasn’t like I could just forget about it.

But still, for people of these level being related to the club…

[Well, all of them are Devil’s Vessels, no? Don’t you have any means to control them like you did to the White Devil last time?]

I wished I did.

In Yuria’s case, I could somehow handle her since she only had one Fragment, but there was no way I could use the same thing for Faenol or Eleanor, since they had multiple Fragments.

Honestly, I didn’t have any means to control them—

“...”

Hold on.

A way to control them…?

Control…?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

It means to make them obey my words no matter what, right?

“...”

When I thought about it that way, a solution that was more simple than I thought popped up in my mind.

“...Caliban.”

[Hm?]

“I’m actually quite powerful, right?”

Those incidents that I had gone through made me realize…

These days, my stats were on its way up to the peak. It was to the point that even though I had to enhance them at times, I already started to feel confident that I wouldn’t end up dying easily.

[...Yeah?]

“I’m really, really strong, right?”

[...]

“...Right?”

[I didn’t say anything.]

“Oh, c’mon, how long do you think I’ve spent my time with you? I could tell that you’re worried about something without you needing to tell me.”

[I mean, you have that look on your face again. You know, the expression you usually have when you’re thinking of doing something crazy…]

“...Stop badmouthing me.”

I replied grumpily.

“It’s just…you know… Like you said, I’m quite powerful, right?”

[Yeah, so what?]

“I won’t die even though I got lynched by a group of people, right?”

[...What?]

“Even if they are the Devil’s Vessels?”

[...]

For some reason, Caliban stayed silent for a while after hearing that.

●

Meanwhile…

While Dowd was having some crazy thoughts again, Iliya was staring at the item on her bed with an annoyed expression.

[Hmm, I see, I see!]

“...”

Hearing the voice that echoed in her ears, her frown instantly grew deeper.

Some might say bullshit like they could feel a sacred feeling from the voice or something similar, but Iliya seemed to not share that sentiment seeing how annoyed her voice sounded as she threw out her reply.

“...What?”

The source of the voice was none other than the Holy Sword on her waist.

She remembered that people had been saying how an amazing being, a Seraphim or something, was dwelling in there.

But to Iliya, it was her enemy.

The religious devouts’ mouths would foam if they were to hear that, but as someone who had been with this thing often, she had nothing positive that she could say about it.

[The man you’re trying to seduce is extremely popular, no? I mean, look at how many amazing people that came just because he made a club!]

This was the reason why Iliya had that sentiment.

Normally, it would stay quiet, but whenever it had something to talk about, it would spit out things that got on her nerves, driving her crazy.

[Even if we exclude the holder of the Devil’s Fragments, the members of the club would be enough to shake the Material Realm, no? Someone without any characteristics like you would need to fight quite the difficult battle to—]

“...Can you just shut up? I want to sleep. You know that I need to evaluate a lot of people tomorrow, right?”

[Fine. What I’m trying to say is, are you just going to suck your finger and do nothing?]

“...”

Iliya was about to cover herself with the blanket when hearing the Seraphim’s voice that suddenly turned serious. Her frown got even deeper as she covered her face with both hands.

“...Seraphim, I’ve been trying so hard to hit on him because you told me to come on stronger. But you know what happened. He kept avoiding me instead. What else do you want me to do…?”

Iliya muttered as such while blushing.

At this point, she thought that she had been throwing herself at him like a human bullet tank, all while setting aside her own self-respect. It was to the point that sometimes she’d feel dispirited when he rejected her since she had gone so far.

If I were to come on even stronger than now, that’ll backfire on me instead, no…?

[Of course not. If anything, you aren’t coming on strong enough.]

“...”

Are you kidding me?!

If I were to come on stronger than this, I’d end up becoming an actual slut or sexual harasser!

She thought as such while glaring at the Holy Sword. But the Seraphim inside just dismissed her concerns.

[It’s time for you to do it. That thing.]

“...”

Hearing that, Iliya’s body froze.

“...That thing? You’re really telling me to do that?”

[If it’s not now, you won’t have any other chance. Do you think your turn will come after the others join the club and begin to interact with him?]

“...”

[He already lost his ‘first time’ to another woman before you knew it.]

“...”

[Don’t you think you’d have to at least take something from him—]

Iliya silently threw the Holy Sword while blushing.

As if trying to say, ‘Please, shut the fuck up’.

However…

“...”

She couldn’t bring herself to just let what it said go in one ear and out the other.

After that, an uncomfortable look stayed on her face throughout the night.

●

And so, Iliya went to Dowd Campbell’s room late at night.

“Why are you here?”

Sitting across from her, Dowd asked such a question with a voice filled with wariness.

…So mean.

Seeing him like this, Iliya couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.

She knew that she had been hitting on him too much lately, but it still hurt her to see him being so wary of her like this.

“...”

The first thing that she checked was if he was wearing the Amulet that she saw before.

For some reason, this man seemed to be really conscious of the Amulet every time he met her.

But, it was only natural since, as far as she knew, her brother was inside it.

“...”

She really wished that she could talk to him right now, but…

[It feels like he doesn’t want to meet you.]

She remembered the thing that Seraphim said while yawning.

While Iliya wanted to hit her nose because she was annoying, she couldn’t just dismiss the things that she told her.

‘He doesn’t want to meet me…?’

[Yeah. Well, not because he hates you or anything though. It feels like he thinks that he’s ‘not supposed to’ meet you.]

‘But why…?! I’m his family…!’

[Who? Knows?]

‘...’

That was the first time she had ever thrown the Holy Sword onto the ground ever since she met the Seraphim.

If what the Seraphim said was true, Iliya could understand the reason why he never said anything to her or approached her.

Maybe it was similar with how Dowd had never said anything about it to her,

But still…

She had to say this for sure this time.

“Um, Teach?”

“Hm?”

“Do you mind putting that down for a moment…? I have something to say to you…”

Hearing that, Dowd blankly looked at Iliya and the Amulet alternately.

It was a valid reaction, since it was the first time Iliya had openly mentioned Caliban’s existence. She had been treating him ambiguously so far, as if he was there, but at the same time, not.

“...Why?”

“Just do it quickly.”

Seeing how serious she was, Dowd tilted his head while doing as she told him.

He untied the Amulet from his arm and put it inside his pocket. Seeing that, Iliya bit her lip and lowered her head.

She seemed to be agonizing until the last minute over whether what she was about to say was the right thing to say.

“...”

And this made Dowd feel anxious for some reason.

What is she even thinking about? What the hell is she going to say? Why is this taking so long?

Iliya stared at him for a while before resting her chin on her hand.

Inwardly, her sense of shame—as she thought that she maybe did not to go this far—and her sense of crisis—as she thought that it’d be too late if she didn’t do this now—were having a fierce standoff.

Seeing how Dowd was acting so wary of her probably got her more worried than back when she first entered his room.

“...Hey.”

In the end, Dowd had to break the silence with a sigh.

“Just say it.”

“...B-But…”

“Look, I don’t know what this is about and I don’t know what it is that you’re contemplating so much, but don’t feel so stressed about it. Just talk when you’re ready, okay?”

He continued in a calm voice.

“At the end of the day, I consider you as mine. You’re someone precious to me.”

“...”

“I’ll help you with everything I can. Just like you did to me, I will do the same to you.”

His words made her stare at him with wide eyes.

“...”

Right.

**

This person has always been like this.

Whatever it is that I did, he’d always accept everything.

That means…

I can rely a little more on his kindness, right…?

Just like that, she let such thoughts dictate her next course of action.

And so…

“Teach.”

That word left her mouth as if she was under a spell.

“Hm?”

Dowd lifted the tea cup that was placed in front of him while shrugging his shoulders. Iliya then continued in a calm voice.

“Do you want to go out with me?”

Hearing that, Dowd spit out all the tea he was drinking.