107 – Pillar
The moment I heard Estelle’s voice, I immediately left the cafeteria without even explaining to the staff.
Following the voice in my head, Estelle was waiting for me in a dark alleyway wearing a black cat mask.
Estelle waved her hand to say hello, but I ignored it and got straight to the point.
“What do you mean Bella is dangerous?”
“It’s literally. I plan to attack Bella at the church today. Bella rode out of the capital in her carriage.”
Roel was always by her side when Bella left the capital. With Roel by his side, there would be no dangerous situation.
Estel must have known that too. Still, to say that Bella is in danger must mean that some variable has occurred.
I asked Estelle, feeling uneasiness rising from the bottom of my emotions.
“Is Roel around?”
“No, Roel left the academy this morning by taking a portal with Ilia. He probably went looking for a spirit creature. “
At Estelle’s words, I wiped my face once. Was I the cause of the problem?
Roel’s unscheduled outing was because of me selling information about spiritual creatures to Modist.
Anyway, saving Bella was the priority.
“I have to follow Bella first.”
“Yes, Ember prepared her wagon.”
I felt grateful to Amber for her thorough preparation, and I immediately got on the carriage with Estelle.
“I’m leaving!”
The carriage moved along with the voice of Amber, the temporary coachman. It was the time when evening ended and night began, but today was a full moon day.
The bright moonlight pushed back the darkness, and the carriage started to run unhindered along the road.
“The Church must have prepared everything. Because I’m definitely thinking of getting my hands on Bella at this opportunity. If you do something wrong, you could die while saving Bella.”
At Estelle’s warning, I stroked her chin. Estelle didn’t hear why I was working so hard to save Bella.
So it was only natural for Estelle to ask if it was worth taking her risk for her Bella. Estelle knows what kind of person Bella is.
A wicked man who wants everyone to die. That was Bella’s setup.
Paradoxically, only Bella can overcome true incomparable evil.
“Because the one who can kill the headmaster is Bella.”
It’s a short word, but there was no easier explanation than this.
“… What?”
I added an explanation to the voice that seemed to ask if what he had heard was true.
“The fragmentary future I saw. Not only the leader, but to save this world, we need the ‘Emperor’ Bella.”
She was the most important pillar needed for an ending for everyone. If she doesn’t end her story by becoming emperor….
I can be sure. The continent will collapse at the hands of the demon king, and Roel’s warrior party will fail.
Her character named Bella is a heroine whose role is obvious in her own right.
Because the heroine closest to the meaning of the title [The Hero’s Harem has no choice but to win] Was Bella.
A heroine who doesn’t care about means and methods, and can do anything for the purpose. Therefore, she is the only member of the harem who can make the decisions of the wicked.
Roel absolutely needs Bella. No, she must exist in the ending for everyone.
“Haa, if what you say is true… Things are going to get complicated.”
I shrugged my shoulders at Estelle who let out a sigh.
“Wouldn’t 3 of us be enough?”
At the academy, she hides her skills and plays an ordinary student, but Estelle is the heir to the world’s strongest assassin group, the ‘Black Eyes’.
Already, he was a strong enough player to reach the limit of growth.
“No, we can’t help.”
I frowned at Estelle’s words. Was my explanation not convincing?
As Bella opened her mouth to once again explain how important it is to be alive, Estelle suddenly stuck her tongue out of her mouth and showed me the bottom of her tongue.
As I watched her, unable to understand her sudden action, Estelle pierced her own tongue with magical energy in her fingers.
Then, the blood vessels at the bottom of her tongue squirmed, and black runes appeared on them like a brand.
“Our clan cannot directly oppose the Church. There are restrictions.”
Estelle stuck her tongue out and explained her actions.
“What is that….”
“Fighting means you will be alone.”
At first I didn’t understand that. There was no setting that Estelle and her family could not stand against the Church. Before long, however, I came up with a possibility to explain the variable.
“Since when did that restriction….”
“When our clan knelt down to the leader.”
At Estelle’s answer, I sighed and pressed my eyelids with my palms. I felt a headache from an unexpected variable.
Is the reason you wanted to cooperate with me because you couldn’t move yourself?
The reason why Estelle, who is strong enough to be friends with Roel now, hates the church, but still cannot refuse the order of the church.
I didn’t set it up. Since Estelle’s setting was discarded, there was no need to create a separate back story.
In order to make that meager setting plausible, this world has created something called [Probability] Again.
Of course I thought that Estelle would cooperate, but I felt that things had become more complicated just like Estelle said.
If Confsion appears where Bella is attacked, will he be able to survive?
I’m not already worried about death.
If I was afraid of that, I would have turned around and ran away. I just calculated.
Even if I die today, I wonder if I can save Bella.
“… Then you should do it alone.”
We cannot give up even if the possibility is small. Because that’s the way for everyone.
***
Bella opened her eyes in her carriage.
As expected of a wagon covered with expensive artifacts, despite the high speed of the whip containing the coachman’s urging, not even the slightest vibration was felt inside.
Bella smiled bitterly at the lethargic energy that made her body feel heavy for the first time in a while.
Sometimes it’s more effective to look down and look down instead of looking at someone as if they have something to say.
So did Claire, who was sitting in front of her now, keeping her eyes on the bottom of the carriage.
“Claire.”
When the name is called softly, Claire’s shoulders tremble.
“You betrayed me.”
The inside pocket of the clothes was empty. Claire must have taken care of it beforehand while she fell asleep on sleeping pills.
Claire slowly lifted her head and met Bella’s gaze. Bella accepted the clear anger and hatred in her eyes with her calm eyes.
“No. I’ve never betrayed….”
Grinding her teeth, Claire glared at Bella with fierce eyes.
“Because I have never sworn allegiance to someone like you.”
Bella said nothing.
I am not shocked. It was only because he already knew Claire’s true feelings. Because no one in the academy, including Sudo, was sincere with him except for Roel.
“Just being by your side was hell for me. Because I had to watch you kill people, destroy people and do evil. Before being a knight, as a man, I don’t think you should ever be an emperor. If so… Everyone will be unhappy.”
“… ….”
“Do you remember the face of the child you killed? I still hear the child’s screams when I close my eyes. What you did with the excuse of being for Roel. In the end, because of that, Roel, the only one who loved you, couldn’t stand you and left. No one in the world would understand a monster like you. Because no one exists.”
“I see…. Maybe.”
Bella looked out the carriage window with a faint smile. The full moon had risen today, and the moonlight was dispelling the darkness. It was an unsuitable day for the wicked to meet their end.
If it had been the weather with gloomy dark clouds and heavy rain, it would have suited the last one. Wouldn’t it be a decent end for a wicked man to have his own head rolled in the mud after falling to the ground?
“Too bright a day to die.”
Bella muttered to herself, feeling the wind blowing through her window, and she turned her gaze to Claire.
“Then why are you still keeping him alive?”
At the sudden words, Claire bit her lip and averted her eyes.
“Because I am not the only one wishing for your death.”
Are they trying to carry out public executions? Or, after dropping it into painful despair. Do you want to beg for death?
The speed of the wagon has decreased. Before long, the carriage came to a complete stop and someone in a robe approached and knocked on the door. Opening the carriage door, Claire lowered her head and spoke to Bella.
“This is your execution site. A field with nothing. A place where no one remembers your death.”
Bella, who was dragged out of the carriage by her arms, fell to the cold ground. No matter how much sleeping pills she had put into her, her whole body was powerless.
“I brought you.”
A woman’s voice was heard. A voice she had heard somewhere, and as she traced her memory, Bella realized that the owner of the voice was a professor at the academy.
“Professor Dewin.”
“That’s right, I never thought they would kidnap Bella so easily. She forced herself to bring her followers…. It makes me feel a little futile.”
Dwin took off his robe with a dejected smile and approached the fallen Bella.
“Or did you give up on life easily because of a broken heart?”
Dwin smiled as he gently stroked Bella’s cheek. Bella met Dewyn’s gaze and smiled lightly.
She probably didn’t know. The moment she saw Roel, who came to her and knelt down on her knees, sobbing and begging him to do nothing more. Because she herself lost her life force again and again.
She didn’t know that Bella drank the tea that Claire handed her to her without thinking about it.
“As promised, I will leave it to you, Claire, to kill Bella. I just need to keep my corpse from decaying.”
Dwynn drew a wand from his bosom and swung it at Bella, who was kneeling on her floor.
Ice picks created in her air pierced Bella’s hands and feet and lodged in her floor.
Bella let out a small groan and looked up at Claire as she pulled out her sword.
Facing her gaze, Claire frowned and let out anger as if she were about to spit it out.
“Don’t say that you want to come and live now. Because you don’t deserve it The evil deeds you have committed will never be forgiven, even in death. Please, I will earnestly pray for you to go to the worst hell.”
Bella smiled bitterly.
“I hope so.”
If there really exists a hell to judge the wicked, it was expected to reunite with the people who will be there in advance.
Receiving Dwyn’s urging stare, Claire bit her lip and asked.
“… Any last words?”
Feeling the cold sword on her shoulder, Bella looked up at the moon high in the sky.
The moon always disappears when the sun rises and reappears when night falls.
Even when you’re there, even when you’re looking down on yourself. Something you can’t reach even if you stretch out your hand hard.
“I hate the moon.”
Perhaps she has lost her mind in the face of death, Claire gritted her teeth and raised her sword high.
When I lowered my gaze, I saw the shadow of the sword raised high. Looking at it, Bella suddenly felt curious rather than afraid.
Will Roel be sad when she finds out he’s gone? Or should I let out a sigh of relief at having been relieved of my burden?
She
She wished it was the latter. Because she didn’t want to see Roel shed tears because of her anymore.
The shadow moved. Bella looked at it and closed her eyes. She would feel the pain, she thought. But what she feels is the strong wind and the touch of wet blood.
And then a roar that seemed to follow her belatedly.
Kwaaang–!
Bella opened her closed eyes at the sound of her raucous voice. Someone’s back was visible. When she met eyes with Wallan looking at him over her shoulder. She couldn’t help but ask Bella in her dumb voice.
“Why… ?”
She was not meant to be here. Even if she really happened to be nearby, she wasn’t one to wield her spear to save herself.
A short answer came to that question.
“Don’t die.”
Her sincerity in her voice made Bella feel like she was kicked in the chest. What happened to her own hair?
Isn’t it a kind of hallucination after death? In fact, it was more persuasive.
Otherwise, she didn’t know what to look like.
But the moment she turned her body towards herself, she saw Ross on her knees meeting her gaze. I realized that this was not an illusion.
“Survive no matter what. I will help.”
I couldn’t escape the sincerity in her voice and her eyes.