“Alright. I’ll dig a hole in the ground and bury you so you’ll never crawl back to the surface again. Who wants to go first?”
A cool smile tugged at his lips.
Wait… can he talk to monsters?
The creature in front of him—an orc, from the looks of it—hesitated before quietly raising its hand.
“Wow.”
“Oh, really? So you’re volunteering to go down into the crack and vanish?”
“Wow!”
…What? Were they actually communicating? Was he really speaking orcish?
No… what on earth am I watching?
My eyes trembled in disbelief, but the man only kept smiling gently, the small trowel still in his hand.
“I really can’t just let you roam around, you know.”
And with that, the monsters caught in his gaze burned away into ashes—instantly erased.
No. What the hell is this?
From where I stood among the quarantined citizens, I could only watch as he herded every monster back into the earth and drew a defensive line, sealing the rift completely.
When his task was done, he arched a brow with a mischievous look.
“Once again, world peace has been preserved.”
…What did I just witness?
But before I could process it further, the man vanished, muttering something about needing to block the next crack.
“This… this is insane…” I mumbled under my breath.
A knight in uniform passed me then, glancing my way.
“It seems this is your first time witnessing Lord Aldehyde’s majesty.”
“…Aldehyde?”
That lunatic with the trowel… was him?
The strongest man who had suddenly appeared and unified the continent. A figure that had never existed in my past life.
“He closed the crack in five minutes without a single civilian casualty. Remarkable, isn’t he? They call him a mad dog, but that’s nothing more than slander.”
It was true. Without Aldehyde, hundreds would have died here.
And yet…
Why do I feel so uneasy?
I had been used by far too many people in my past life to accept anyone at face value. No goodwill in this world came without a purpose.
Just as I did good deeds in order to die well, he too must have his own reason. His own hidden purpose.
From that day on, I began chasing after the rifts, using my knowledge from before regression to evacuate civilians in advance.
But Aldehyde was always there before me.
Always arriving first, always sealing the rifts without flaw, always murmuring the same line:
“Once again, the world is at peace.”
The more I saw of him, the more suspicious he became.
And so, inevitably, the day arrived—
The day of the mass suicide incident caused by the giant poison butterfly.
The port city of Bane, in the west.
A small crack had opened beneath the lighthouse on the cliff, and the situation was critical.
Scalding water spewed out like molten lava, filling the air with oppressive heat.
“Emergency! Evacuate at once!”
“All civilians, move back!”
Knights shouted frantically as fishermen, lighthouse keepers, and townsfolk scrambled for safety.
And among them, sitting calmly on an empty bench with a newspaper in hand, was a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman.
Me. Sienna Vietri.
I smiled faintly as I drew a small, conch-shaped mirror from my pocket.
Brown hair, brown eyes… quite the change.
The mirror was a treasure from the Vietri family’s vault, an ancient magical tool said to have been crafted by the witch from the legend of The Little Mermaid.
It allowed the user to disguise their appearance at will.
And today, I had chosen to appear here in disguise.
The poison butterfly monster is far too dangerous. If I want to observe Aldehyde’s actions—and how the situation changes—I can’t risk being recognized.
Not far away, Aldehyde and the Imperial Knights stood poised before the crack.
The air trembled—then a monster emerged.
A massive Kraken, thrashing its tentacles, waves crashing in its wake.
But Aldehyde merely raised a hand.
“You’re bold, aren’t you?”
That was all.
The Kraken shattered like glass, its remains scattering into dust.
A chill raced down my spine.
Just how strong is he?
The fight had ended in an instant. Too easily.
“On to the next step,” Aldehyde said calmly, extending his hand over the monster’s remains and uttering a short incantation.
The sealing ritual. Ensuring no further cracks would form in this place.
“The next one…”
He tilted his head, sensing.
“…is on the other side of the logistics warehouse.”
“What? But that’s where the civilians are sheltering!”
His brows furrowed, as though even he hadn’t expected the crack’s exact location.
I already knew. Before my regression, a rift had opened there too.
Without hesitation, I rushed across the docks.
“It’s dangerous here! Everyone, out!”
The people hesitated, startled by the vibrations beneath their feet. Aldehyde, on the opposite side, was also giving evacuation orders.
“Clear the civilians immediately.”
The knights moved swiftly. I, too, slipped to the rear—there was something I had to do.
Beneath my hooded gray robe, I whispered a spell.
The poison butterfly’s pollen disturbed the mind, driving people into despair, even suicide.
In the past, countless survivors had taken their own lives after breathing it in.
But unlike ordinary Stability Magicians, my ability extended beyond people.
I can spread Stability Magic… even to inanimate things.
The effect was weak, but enough. If I cast it upon the pollen itself, its unstable properties would change—
and instead of spreading despair, it would leave people calm, at peace.
The important thing was to do it in secret.
If anyone discovered I could use stability magic on objects, it would cause too much trouble.
Once the spell was cast, I pulled my hood lower and turned back—
only to find Aldehyde’s eyes fixed briefly on me, sharp as a blade.
…What was that?
I stiffened, adjusting my robe nervously.
Moments later, I joined the civilians as they were teleported to safety.
The plan had gone smoothly—I had secretly neutralized the butterfly’s poison pollen, and no one would be driven to suicide this time.
Yet Aldehyde’s piercing gaze lingered in my thoughts.
What was with those eyes?
It had lasted less than a heartbeat, but the weight of it was overwhelming.
Then, among the knights watching through telescopes, a commotion broke out.
“What… what the hell?!”
“The… the poison butterflies are dying all at once?”
From our safe zone—roughly thirty meters away—we couldn’t see clearly, but the telescopes showed the scene.
And I, peering over a knight’s shoulder, widened my eyes in shock.
Why… why does he look like that?
Why did his expression suddenly twist, his eyes dark and wild?
The giant poison butterfly crumbled to ash without even a scream.
Aldehyde remained expressionless. As if brushing away dust. As if it were nothing.
Instant death.
It had taken him less than a minute.
As the last of the butterflies vanished, the mist over the harbor cleared.
At Aldehyde’s side, his aide Paul asked cautiously,
“Lord Aldehyde… is something wrong? You seem different from usual.”
“…Yeah.”
His voice was flat, his face unreadable.
“I saw a gray robe.”
