Chapter 99
Two of the three great black magicians who once terrorized the northern regions of the Empire had already been captured.
One of them was that very bastard who had used Charon in the past. True to his reputation, even when we found him he was still going around scamming people. I made sure to give him a solid flick on the forehead on Charon’s behalf as well.
The second was the one who, enraged by the Empire’s suppression of black magicians, had attempted to carry out a terrorist attack against the Emperor. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t run into us—but into April of all people—and was captured after meeting a truly miserable end. Ugh, just recalling that incident makes my body tremble again.
Which meant that the last remaining one was the very guy we were supposed to catch today….
There was definitely nothing like this in the original story.
In the original work, there were no scenes involving fighting black magicians. External assignments didn’t even appear at all.
Any battles that did occur were limited to fights against monsters, and for the record, those monsters existed solely as measuring sticks for the male leads’ combat power.
But the Empire now was sparing no effort in its campaign to eradicate black magicians.
According to our seniors, the Black Magic Search Special Unit had previously existed only in name and barely did any real work.
Yet recently, reforms were being carried out within the unit, and we were being directly ordered to capture black magicians.
As the Empire suddenly accelerated its efforts to wipe them out, it felt like the black magicians themselves were becoming more active than ever, desperately struggling to survive.
By the way, what kind of crime will today’s target commit?
One had committed fraud, another attempted terrorism. Now I was genuinely curious what the last one would do.
“Each unit is to surround the village and advance. Upon discovery, apprehend immediately.”
The company commander’s order soon came down, and we had no choice but to get to work.
Whenever our Border Defense Force carried out search operations like this, they were usually done in teams of two or three. Today’s operation was organized in three-person teams, but since we had extra personnel, one team had to be made up of four people.
I volunteered for the four-person team.
“Hey, Patty, Matty—come on.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
Patty and Matty together counted as one full person, so I absolutely couldn’t let them wander off on their own. And the remaining one was—
“Dallin? What are you doing over there? Get over here.”
“Haha, Lady Salubia, well, you see—”
“What? Don’t you like me?”
“No, of course I like you very much! It’s just… you seem to be in an especially bad mood today….”
“Get over here. Now.”
“Yes….”
In the end, Dallin joined me with a gloomy expression, and the search began.
With soldiers in uniform roaming through the village, the residents stared at us in surprise, but we paid them no mind and continued searching. Still, we had to act carefully—if we barged into private homes, complaints would come pouring in and we’d be the ones getting chewed out.
So, according to the guidelines sent down from above, when questioning people, we had to do the following:
“Excuse me, do you perhaps feel the urge to use black magic right now?”
“…Pardon?”
“If you don’t use black magic, do your hands tremble and you feel anxious, as if you’ve lost a dear friend? Do you consider black magic your most precious possession and use it for more than four hours a day? Do you want to use black magic even when going to the bathroom, and do you feel uneasy if someone forbids you from using it?”
“Uh… no?”
“Then this person doesn’t seem to be a black magician. Let’s go.”
According to the manual, we were supposed to use these questions to identify black magicians.
No matter how I thought about it, it was an utterly useless method—but if the higher-ups said jump, we jumped. What else could we do?
As we continued this meaningless questioning, a single raindrop landed on the bridge of my nose.
“Ah….”
I looked up and realized that the sky had filled with dark clouds. A sudden downpour had begun.
“A sudden shower at a time like this.”
Of course, rain wasn’t going to end our mission. We were stuck working while getting soaked.
Since this method won’t yield any results anyway, it’d be nice if we could just slack off somewhere…
Unfortunately, there was no place suitable for slacking off.
“Lady Salubia!”
“Hm?”
I heard Dallin calling me from behind. When I turned around, she was standing in front of a shabby house that looked abandoned.
“It doesn’t seem like anyone lives here. How about resting here for a bit?”
“Are you sure no one lives here?”
Now that I thought about it, we had gradually made our way to the edge of the village, and this was the only house around. And it did look abandoned to anyone’s eyes.
“I’ll check!”
As she said that, Dallin forcefully opened the door, and I decided right then that I’d give her hell once we got back to base.
What if someone actually lived there?! Civilians outrank us, damn it!
Whether she sensed my thoughts or not, Dallin stuck her head through the open doorway and shouted confidently.
“No one lives here!”
“Hm.”
“How about resting here before we continue?”
Dallin bursting into a shabby house uninvited was definitely a problem, but if it really was abandoned, resting here wasn’t a bad idea. Better than getting soaked while doing pointless work. It wasn’t like we’d find a black magician with those stupid questions anyway.
“Fine. Let’s do that.”
Before I even finished speaking, Patty and Matty had already followed Dallin inside.
You little shits—just you wait…
Surprisingly, the inside of the house was in decent condition. The exterior looked like it could collapse at any moment, but inside there was a comfortable sofa and even a fireplace.
“…Are you sure no one lives here?”
“There are no daily necessities at all! No shoes, clothes, or food!”
“Well, that does settle it, but still….”
The contrast between the shabby exterior and the well-kept interior felt strange, but I sat down on one of the sofas in the living room. The trio of walking disasters—Patty, Matty, and Dallin—wandered around as if it were their own home, making themselves comfortable.
“Ugh, those damn black magician bastards….”
If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be out on external duty like this—
KIIIIIIIIIIEK—!
At that moment, a horrifying sound echoed from somewhere. It sounded like fingernails scraping a chalkboard—or maybe a human scream.
“Hey, you heard that just now, right?”
“Yes, definitely!”
“I heard it!”
“So did I!”
After signaling them to be quiet and waiting, the sound became even clearer.
KIIIIIIIIIIEK—!
“…What the hell was that?”
It was an incredibly unpleasant, spine-chilling sound. Goosebumps rose all over my body as I frowned and scanned the surroundings.
KRRRUMBLE—! BOOM—!
As if things weren’t bad enough, thunder and lightning started raging outside. I flinched despite myself, but the three idiots in front of me didn’t seem scared at all.
“I’m certain the sound came from somewhere inside this house!”
Instead, they eagerly began searching for its source. And for some reason, I felt deeply uneasy.
What is this? This feels dangerous.
I had the strength to beat down any criminal hiding in the house, and I could handle most monsters—but still, the situation itself felt ominous.
As I tried to calm my racing nerves, Patty and Matty called out to me.
“Lady Salubia! Over here! Look at this!”
“There’s a passageway!”
“What?”
They were sitting on the wooden floor of the living room, calling to me. The carpet had been pulled aside, revealing a dark hole in the floor.
A pitch-black basement lay below, with stairs leading down.
“There’s no doubt the sound came from down there!”
I desperately wanted to bolt out of the house, but Dallin pointed cheerfully at the basement entrance.
And Patty made things even worse by leaning toward the stairs and calling out:
“Jason~? Are you down there?”
“Hey, what are you talking about? Why are you suddenly calling for Jason—”
And at that very moment, I realized why this situation felt so wrong.
“STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU CRAZY BASTARDS!!”
This situation—this situation was clearly—
A horror movie cliché!
Think about it.
Taking shelter in an abandoned house to avoid sudden rain.
Finding the interior unexpectedly cozy and settling in.
Hearing strange noises and deliberately searching for the source.
Discovering an obviously suspicious passageway and trying to go down alone.
Even saying something stupid like, “Oh, Jason? Jason, is that you? Don’t prank us~.”
This was textbook horror movie behavior.
“Don’t move! Stay right where you are, you idiots!”
“L-Lady Salubia! What’s wrong?!”
I slowly turned my head and looked at the people in front of me.
Dallin staring at me with wide eyes. Patty and Matty still giggling and clearly ready to go down the stairs.
We’re going to die. Absolutely going to die.
They were all the types who would die first in a horror movie.
…Wasn’t this world supposed to be a romance fantasy?
Well, considering it already had apocalypses and all kinds of mixed genres, maybe that didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was that we had stepped straight into a horror movie cliché.
I took a slow, deep breath and tried to think calmly.
The obvious answer was to leave the house immediately, but—
So what’s actually down there?
No matter what, there couldn’t be ghosts. This world wasn’t occult or horror-themed.
If ghosts existed, the Emperor would’ve been cursed to death by the Archon’s ghost long ago…
So what were the possibilities?
First, criminals—like a chainsaw-wielding psychopath.
But if that were the case, I’d win. Even Patty and Matty together could easily subdue an ordinary Imperial citizen, as long as they weren’t an Archon.
Second possibility: a black magician.
This was the most likely scenario. We were in the middle of searching for a black magician’s base in this village.
If it really was a black magician, then going down and capturing him quickly was the right move. Because—
“They said if we capture a black magician, we get rewarded with a week off from border duty.”
Unfortunately, the Border Defense Force didn’t have reward leave—but we could be exempted from guard duty.
That was basically half a vacation.
When I suddenly brought up the reward, Dallin tilted her head, not fully understanding the context.
“But wouldn’t we get nothing? We don’t even stand guard duty yet….”
“…Listen. If I don’t have to do guard duty, I’ll be more relaxed, right? Less angry, right?”
“Whoa!”
At that, Patty, Matty, and Dallin’s eyes all began to sparkle.
