TYHL SS 34 💫

~Side Story 34~

That was when something on his back suddenly squirmed.

“Re—”

“…?”

“Vi—vaaaal—! Aaaah!”

“Revival or hatching, pick one. Can you stay still?”

“Eep—!”

“You almost fell.”

The child gasped and clapped both hands over her mouth.

Her eyes rolled as she took in the situation—then she spotted the man standing in front of them and nearly jumped out of her skin.

“W-w-wait! Please put me down!”

Leviathan deliberately hitched the fidgeting kid higher on his back.

“Hey, kid. Do you know that man?”

“I know him way too well…”

“Don’t tell me—that trash father who abandoned you—”

“If that were true, we’d be in huge trouble, so please don’t say that! My trash dad is a completely different person!”

“…?”

“What’s wrong, Leviathan?”

“I feel like someone just spat in my face.”

“…?”

Rubian hurriedly waved her hands.

“Ah—so, uh—he’s an older brother I know! See? Totally safe!”

There was roughly a two-to-two-hundred-year age gap, so it wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Anyway, I’ll just go with him—”

“What are you talking about?”

Leviathan tightened his grip.

“An ‘older brother you know’ is the most dangerous kind.”

“…No he isn’t.”

Wow. Is he psychic? How did he know that was my boyfriend?

“Enough. We’ll escort you to a safe place. That ‘older brother’ too. Rosetta.”

“Okay. I’ll clear a path.”

“No—I meant you should hold the kid.”

“…Oh.”

“I’ll make the path.”

“Oh.”

Rubian blinked, watching the two of them move together like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Huh?

Did things… work out?

Come to think of it, her body wasn’t transparent anymore either.

Does that mean I’m on the fast track to being born?

Which also meant—

Rosetta had decided to leave the mercenary corps. She didn’t know how yet, but Leviathan would help.

Rubian hesitated briefly.

Up ahead, Khalid was seconds away from exploding, so she didn’t have much time.

“Mister.”

“What.”

Whisper whisper.

“…What?”

“Hey, just listen.”

“….”

Rubian leaned in and hurriedly whispered into Leviathan’s ear. His brow furrowed deeply.

The moment his arms loosened—

She hopped down.

“Whoa—dizzy…”

“Are you okay?”

She nearly toppled over, but Khalid caught her in a flash.

“You really are—ha.”

He dropped to his knees and pulled her into his arms. His large hands trembled, unable to hold her tightly.

Rubian patted him gently, soothing him.

Yeah… I get why he suddenly grew up so fast.

His mana was raging, wild and feral.

After losing Rubian in the landslide, Khalid must’ve lost control—and that surge had altered his body.

Okay. Time to do my last job.

“Anyway—thank you for saving me!”

Whoosh.

Rubian dragged Khalid away from the scene.

A few days later.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

A group of knights cut through the darkness.

With the full moon behind them, they charged straight toward Biltein.

Under the Crown Prince’s command, the purge of the massive crime city began.

At the front, of course, was Leviathan.

His target was the illegal assassination mercenary guild hidden in western Biltein—

The Brain Wall.

The midnight assault was sudden.

And because of that, it worked.

“AAAH! An attack! We’re under attack!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Commander! It’s an attack! The Crown Prince traced us—Z-Zebert is—!”

“What? Zebert?!”

After the hunting festival, Leviathan had gone into seclusion.

As if he’d died in the landslide.

The Crown Prince and Balok had spread rumors that tragedy had struck House Zebert.

So the mercenary commander truly believed Leviathan had been assassinated.

Just as Rosetta had reported.

Which was why—

He never imagined the young Duke of Zebert would raid him in the dead of night.

“This is it.”

Leviathan ground his teeth as he stared at the towering wall.

He’d searched this area countless times while looking for Rosetta.

He’d thought it was just an abandoned ruin.

To think the hideout was underground…

Below lay a bunker, carved like a labyrinth beneath the earth.

He’d been played.

“Don’t let a single one escape! Arrest them all!”

“Yes!”

Leviathan fired explosives to draw attention—

Then scanned every entrance along the wall.

“…There.”

A small marking caught his eye.

^o^/

For some reason, all his strength seemed to drain away.

But there was no mistaking it.

It was her.

“Mister. When I was dragged into the mercenary corps, I overheard something…”

He remembered that cautious whisper in his ear.

“The curse might actually—”

Haah.

White breath scattered into the night.

Meanwhile, Rosetta was freeing the women locked in the punishment chamber.

It was finally time to escape this hell.

“But Captain… if we cross the Wall on our own, we’ll die before we escape.”

Hazel muttered, her clothes in tatters.

She’d clearly suffered under the commander.

“HazeI.”

Rosetta looked at the women and spoke.

She wasn’t completely certain—but she couldn’t afford to waver.

“When were the bodies of the women who escaped the Wall found?”

“…Two or three days later.”

Hazel answered stiffly.

Burned corpses, charred beyond recognition.

Too horrifying to look at closely.

“What kind of god takes days to punish a traitor?”

“….”

“Is this really a curse?”

“…What?”

“Or did the commander just need time to deal with them himself?”

She remembered the man’s words before they’d parted.

“Question everything the commander ever told you. Look directly at every contradiction you’ve sensed.”
“Does the curse really exist?”

You must never defy the commander.
You must never cross the Brain Wall without permission.

That was the so-called curse.

But when Rosetta had defied him and let targets escape—

Nothing happened.

Even when she was caught, she wasn’t ‘executed.’

She was brainwashed. Again. And again.

Then why keep brainwashing her?

Why not just activate the curse and kill her as an example?

“Can something this inconsistent really be called a curse? Or was it just…”

Another layer of conditioning?

“Send scouts to examine the mana around the Wall. If nothing reacts—if there’s no magic field—fire a blue signal flare.”

Pheeeeew!

Rosetta stared at the blue flare rising in the distance.

She didn’t know how they’d tested it—

But one thing was certain.

“There’s nothing stopping us.”

“….”

“It’s just old conditioning. Deep, stubborn conditioning. And breaking that might be harder than lifting a real curse.”

“….”

“I want to be brave. Stopping here would mean nothing.”

It was as much for herself as for them.

Rosetta met the eyes of the dozens of women looking up at her.

A moment passed.

Then—

“We…”

Each face held a different expression.

But their resolve was the same.

They grasped Rosetta’s hand.

And they moved.

The red haze in her eyes slowly faded, replaced by blue.

Rubian let out a sharp, satisfied breath.

“See? There was never a curse.”

Khalid—now back in his boyish form—tightened his grip on her hand.

Carefully feeding mana into her, he said,

“A convincing illusion, that’s all.”

“This was just a wall. A fancy-looking wall pretending to be something more!”

Boom—boom!

Massive explosions echoed.

Leviathan’s ambush had clearly succeeded.

Rubian left the promised mark where Leviathan could see it—then moved fast.

“I overheard something in the mercenary corps. The curse might not be real.”

Truth was, she hadn’t overheard it.

She’d formed the theory herself, back when she was captured and examined the Wall.

Inconsistent punishments.
A wall with no detectable mana.
Endless brainwashing.

If you start with “maybe”—you usually end at “of course.”

“But just in case, I’ll send this older brother in first! He used to be an information mercenary—stealth’s his specialty. He’s got tons of magic tools too! Anyway, if I’m right, then—”

Rubian softened her eyes and flashed the most harmless smile she could manage.

“We leave a smiley mark on the wall!”