Gulp, Lilith swallowed her saliva.
She looked flustered.
With that response, Cheshire was certain that there was something in Lilith’s strange remark.
“O, oh, about that…”
Lilith, who had been pondering for a while, immediately smiled brightly and said.
“I’m asking you to protect me! At the training center, when we take a test! And when the monster came out, from the monster!”
“…Yeah.”
Cheshire nodded.
‘So she doesn’t want to tell me. If not, she can’t say it easily.’
If that were the case, he had no intention of asking more.
“Whew, I’m wrong again. Now it’s your turn!”
“Eung.”
Cheshire said, turning over the cards one by one.
“Lilith.”
“Eung.”
“It’s easier to kill than to subdue. I learned it from Uncle.”
“W, what?”
Lilith flinched.
“When fighting an opponent stronger than me, if you’re not strong enough to overwhelm that opponent, you’ll have to choose to kill them in order to win.”
“W, why did you keep saying this while flipping cards….”
Cheshire continued to flip the card and added.
“So I’ll be strong.”
For you.
“Mmhm?”
“What I said then is true.”
Saying that if she becomes a demon, they will fall into hell together instead of killing her.
Cheshire stopped his hand and stared at the speechless Lilith.
“I, can’t kill you.”
“….”
Light for the first time in his life.
It was the only salvation.
No matter what Lilith is worried about or what happens in the future.
Even if there is a situation where his life is at stake.
To kill Lilith…
It’s the only thing Cheshire can never do.
“You suit heaven.”
Cheshire stared blankly at Lilith, who blinked her eyes.
Yeah, you.
You suit heaven.
But I could go to hell with you.
“… I’ll be strong. So please wait for me.”
Still, so that you can smile in heaven.
* * *
“You suit heaven.”
‘He’s really, what kind of flirting is he doing while flipping cards…’
I was waiting for my Dad at the main gate of the Duke of Libre with my mouth wide open and thinking about Cheshire.
At that time.
“Whaaang!”
Someone grabbed me from behind, and my body swung up.
“Oh~my!”
“Whoaaaa!”
It was Dad.
I almost cried when I was grabbed and kissed on the cheek without a chance to escape.
“Don’t do iiiiit!”
“Oh~ I’m going to do it? I’m going to do it~? Princess! Did you have fun with everything?”
“Ssh. Ssh.”
“Haha. What about Cheshire?”
Dad who watched not only Cheshire but also Axion’s soldiers’ swords today.
Dad’s routine is the same these days.
Goes to work with Uncle Axion.
Training Cheshire and Soldiers.
Then, after taking a shower at someone else’s house that smells like soap, we go home.
“Cheshire says he has to go to a training center today. So I just go to the carriage and leave.”
“Eh.”
Dad tilted his head.
Dad doesn’t know?
It was said that the mana formal used in the training center would be replaced with a new one from the Magic Tower.
“You know. You know the magic tool that measures the amount of mana, right? They said it was newly made in the Magic Tower.”
“Ah, really?”
“Eung. But Cheshire said that the measurement results weren’t clear the other day, so they called to check them one more time?”
“What do you mean weren’t clear?”
“I don’t know? I’m not even sure what that means.”
“Hmm.”
Dad thought for a moment, then said “Ah!” and burst into exclamation.
“I know!”
“Why? What is it?”
“The old type that was originally used probably had the maximum value that could be measured. That’s right. I remember.”
Dad narrowed his eyes.
It might have reminded him of when he went to his own training center.
“It can’t be measured in more than a million? Seeing that they called Cheshire, it seems that the new one increased the maximum value measured.”
“…M, million?”
My eyes were cloudy.
‘Hmm, it seems that there are people with abilities over one million mana.’
For reference, anything over 600,000 is Dos.
Because they are lined up in front of me and on both sides, it seems to be spread widely, but Dos is a very, very rare class with less than 50 people in the entire empire.
“Then what about Dad? It’s more than a million, so it didn’t come out clearly?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Wow, it’s been 20 years already. No, at that time they just sent me back home as Dos roughly…”
Dad grumbled.
“They even made a new measuring tool and had Cheshire do it again. Can the Magic Tower discriminate against people like this?”
“Phew, do they have to make a new magic tool just for Dad? A waste of manpower.”
“Well. I heard it takes a lot of time to make one and it’s quite complicated…”
Dad, who had muttered as he held me in his arms as he headed towards the carriage, stopped and added:
“…A genius must be a genius.”
“Who? Master?”
“Mmhm. The Lord of the Wizard Tower must have made it, well.”
“Hahaha!”
I laughed at the thought of Oscar.
“That’s right! Master is the most genius person I’ve ever seen! And he’s very~kind! He made a magic tool for me too!’
Dad glared at me.
“Do you like Dad or your Master?”
“Oh! Mr. James, what childish questions are you asking?”
“What? You’re avoiding answering, aren’t you?”
“Mr. James… you will be twenty-eight the day after tomorrow. But what if you say something like Brother Leon?”
Dad opened his mouth wide. Then he lifted me up in the air.
“You’re really avoiding answering, huh?”
“No, no! It’s my Dad! I like my Dad! Drop me off!”
“Whoo. You should have done that sooner.”
Satisfied, Dad held me in his arms and climbed into the carriage.
Phew. I can’t live, I can’t live.
* * *
Oscar Manuel.
He’s a genius, but he’s not nice.
He knew the limits of the old mana formal, which only measured up to a million, and could update it and replace it with a new one at any time…
But he didn’t do that.
Why would he do something so annoying?
If it weren’t for Lilith this time, he wouldn’t have made a new mana formal.
“Kkkk.”
The Imperial Capable People Training Center.
To check the new mana formal that was replaced, Oscar visited this place himself.
“Kkkk!”
Oscar stopped at every step on his way to a mana formal room and laughed like a villain.
The mana formal, first created by Oscar’s ancestors, is truly a great magic tool.
Even the Primera Emperor has no way of knowing the power of the capable people in detail, so he has no choice but to rely entirely on these magic tools.
‘Even if Grandpa Primera comes now, he won’t know who my child is!’
Oscar laughed.
“Ahahahaha!”
“Wow, excuse me. Lord of the Wizard Tower. There are many eyes to see. Please take care of your image.”
The aide who was following him, Robert, looked around and whispered as if he were embarrassed.
But Oscar was filled with joy, whether Robert noticed it or not.
“Ah, really. The child should know that this genius master is so sincere.”
Oscar is the only one who can check the biometric data of the capable person who entered the mana formal.
Based on Lilith’s data from the old mana formal, Oscar has already dealt with the new mana formal.
They wouldn’t bother holding a child to check her abilities again, but…
Even if such a situation happens.
He made sure Lilith turned out to be Octava without having to manipulate the magic tools.
“Hello!”
When Oscar walked into the mana formal room, the researchers who were waiting there greeted him.
“….”
Oscar, who found a familiar face among them, paused for a moment.
Lilith’s biological mother.
Selena.
‘Right. I never thought I’d ever see her face.’
The one who’s back, Oscar.
Although the time has already disappeared…
Still, there are two people that Oscar can’t forgive.
Selena was one of them.
“Let’s see. Did it work well?”
It’s a big deal if he can’t hold back his anger and even punches her.
Oscar sat arrogantly in a prepared chair, trying hard to take his gaze away from Selena.
“This is the current status of records from 852 to 1026 of capable people who have been measured since the first introduction of mana formal. The capable people that is scheduled to be retested with the new mana formal is Cheshire Libre, and in the first…”
“Y, yeah.”
Of course, Selena handed over the record book and came next to him to explain.
“I’ll see for myself. You’re not very pretty, so don’t come close. I’m not such an empty-headed guy that you even have to explain.”
Oscar pushed Selena away from him and waved his hand as if he were trying to catch a bug.
“Ehem!”
“Hmm.”
No matter how much he is the Lord of the Magic Tower, isn’t that really an arrogant attitude? All the researchers who were watching were displeased.
“Phew.”
Oscar clicked his tongue as he turned to the first page of the record book.
At the top were the names of two out-of-standard capable people who far exceeded the maximum amount of mana that the mana formal could measure.
1006th Enoch Rubinstein: 999999
1026th Cheshire: 999999
“T, this.”
Oscar clicked his tongue and touched Enoch’s name.
“This person also needs to be reexamined…”
In a way, weren’t Enoch Rubinstein’s crazy abilities the beginning of all these tragedies?
No matter how good it looks.
He is a filthy, nasty person who has done nothing for her.
“When is this punk coming? How dare he make me wait?”
Oscar gets up in a fit of rage at the next name, Cheshire.
“…Hello.”
―At the same time, the door opened and Cheshire entered.
From afar, Oscar and Cheshire’s eyes met.
‘That punk.’
A man who returned, a man whom Oscar could never forgive.
Cheshire was one of the two.
Oscar has nightmares every night.
Not a dream, but times that have already disappeared.
Cheshire always came out of his nightmares.
Even if he wanted to forget, he couldn’t.
“Father, I am sorry.”
“Wait. Please wait for a moment, please…”
Lilith, who erased the powerless people without a trace with a single gesture, eventually became a demon.
Enoch Rubinstein cried while watching his daughter.
And in front of him.
“People are dying even at this moment of hesitation. If Primera does not disappear, the future that my father wanted so much will never come.”
“Cheshire!”
“I’m sorry.”
A man who was incredibly cold.
‘Damn it.’
In a small space, Cheshire and himself.
There seemed to be only two people.
But Oscar couldn’t breathe.
Gulp, Lilith swallowed her saliva.
She looked flustered.
With that response, Cheshire was certain that there was something in Lilith’s strange remark.
“O, oh, about that…”
Lilith, who had been pondering for a while, immediately smiled brightly and said.
“I’m asking you to protect me! At the training center, when we take a test! And when the monster came out, from the monster!”
“…Yeah.”
Cheshire nodded.
‘So she doesn’t want to tell me. If not, she can’t say it easily.’
If that were the case, he had no intention of asking more.
“Whew, I’m wrong again. Now it’s your turn!”
“Eung.”
Cheshire said, turning over the cards one by one.
“Lilith.”
“Eung.”
“It’s easier to kill than to subdue. I learned it from Uncle.”
“W, what?”
Lilith flinched.
“When fighting an opponent stronger than me, if you’re not strong enough to overwhelm that opponent, you’ll have to choose to kill them in order to win.”
“W, why did you keep saying this while flipping cards….”
Cheshire continued to flip the card and added.
“So I’ll be strong.”
For you.
“Mmhm?”
“What I said then is true.”
Saying that if she becomes a demon, they will fall into hell together instead of killing her.
Cheshire stopped his hand and stared at the speechless Lilith.
“I, can’t kill you.”
“….”
Light for the first time in his life.
It was the only salvation.
No matter what Lilith is worried about or what happens in the future.
Even if there is a situation where his life is at stake.
To kill Lilith…
It’s the only thing Cheshire can never do.
“You suit heaven.”
Cheshire stared blankly at Lilith, who blinked her eyes.
Yeah, you.
You suit heaven.
But I could go to hell with you.
“… I’ll be strong. So please wait for me.”
Still, so that you can smile in heaven.
* * *
“You suit heaven.”
‘He’s really, what kind of flirting is he doing while flipping cards…’
I was waiting for my Dad at the main gate of the Duke of Libre with my mouth wide open and thinking about Cheshire.
At that time.
“Whaaang!”
Someone grabbed me from behind, and my body swung up.
“Oh~my!”
“Whoaaaa!”
It was Dad.
I almost cried when I was grabbed and kissed on the cheek without a chance to escape.
“Don’t do iiiiit!”
“Oh~ I’m going to do it? I’m going to do it~? Princess! Did you have fun with everything?”
“Ssh. Ssh.”
“Haha. What about Cheshire?”
Dad who watched not only Cheshire but also Axion’s soldiers’ swords today.
Dad’s routine is the same these days.
Goes to work with Uncle Axion.
Training Cheshire and Soldiers.
Then, after taking a shower at someone else’s house that smells like soap, we go home.
“Cheshire says he has to go to a training center today. So I just go to the carriage and leave.”
“Eh.”
Dad tilted his head.
Dad doesn’t know?
It was said that the mana formal used in the training center would be replaced with a new one from the Magic Tower.
“You know. You know the magic tool that measures the amount of mana, right? They said it was newly made in the Magic Tower.”
“Ah, really?”
“Eung. But Cheshire said that the measurement results weren’t clear the other day, so they called to check them one more time?”
“What do you mean weren’t clear?”
“I don’t know? I’m not even sure what that means.”
“Hmm.”
Dad thought for a moment, then said “Ah!” and burst into exclamation.
“I know!”
“Why? What is it?”
“The old type that was originally used probably had the maximum value that could be measured. That’s right. I remember.”
Dad narrowed his eyes.
It might have reminded him of when he went to his own training center.
“It can’t be measured in more than a million? Seeing that they called Cheshire, it seems that the new one increased the maximum value measured.”
“…M, million?”
My eyes were cloudy.
‘Hmm, it seems that there are people with abilities over one million mana.’
For reference, anything over 600,000 is Dos.
Because they are lined up in front of me and on both sides, it seems to be spread widely, but Dos is a very, very rare class with less than 50 people in the entire empire.
“Then what about Dad? It’s more than a million, so it didn’t come out clearly?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Wow, it’s been 20 years already. No, at that time they just sent me back home as Dos roughly…”
Dad grumbled.
“They even made a new measuring tool and had Cheshire do it again. Can the Magic Tower discriminate against people like this?”
“Phew, do they have to make a new magic tool just for Dad? A waste of manpower.”
“Well. I heard it takes a lot of time to make one and it’s quite complicated…”
Dad, who had muttered as he held me in his arms as he headed towards the carriage, stopped and added:
“…A genius must be a genius.”
“Who? Master?”
“Mmhm. The Lord of the Wizard Tower must have made it, well.”
“Hahaha!”
I laughed at the thought of Oscar.
“That’s right! Master is the most genius person I’ve ever seen! And he’s very~kind! He made a magic tool for me too!’
Dad glared at me.
“Do you like Dad or your Master?”
“Oh! Mr. James, what childish questions are you asking?”
“What? You’re avoiding answering, aren’t you?”
“Mr. James… you will be twenty-eight the day after tomorrow. But what if you say something like Brother Leon?”
Dad opened his mouth wide. Then he lifted me up in the air.
“You’re really avoiding answering, huh?”
“No, no! It’s my Dad! I like my Dad! Drop me off!”
“Whoo. You should have done that sooner.”
Satisfied, Dad held me in his arms and climbed into the carriage.
Phew. I can’t live, I can’t live.
* * *
Oscar Manuel.
He’s a genius, but he’s not nice.
He knew the limits of the old mana formal, which only measured up to a million, and could update it and replace it with a new one at any time…
But he didn’t do that.
Why would he do something so annoying?
If it weren’t for Lilith this time, he wouldn’t have made a new mana formal.
“Kkkk.”
The Imperial Capable People Training Center.
To check the new mana formal that was replaced, Oscar visited this place himself.
“Kkkk!”
Oscar stopped at every step on his way to a mana formal room and laughed like a villain.
The mana formal, first created by Oscar’s ancestors, is truly a great magic tool.
Even the Primera Emperor has no way of knowing the power of the capable people in detail, so he has no choice but to rely entirely on these magic tools.
‘Even if Grandpa Primera comes now, he won’t know who my child is!’
Oscar laughed.
“Ahahahaha!”
“Wow, excuse me. Lord of the Wizard Tower. There are many eyes to see. Please take care of your image.”
The aide who was following him, Robert, looked around and whispered as if he were embarrassed.
But Oscar was filled with joy, whether Robert noticed it or not.
“Ah, really. The child should know that this genius master is so sincere.”
Oscar is the only one who can check the biometric data of the capable person who entered the mana formal.
Based on Lilith’s data from the old mana formal, Oscar has already dealt with the new mana formal.
They wouldn’t bother holding a child to check her abilities again, but…
Even if such a situation happens.
He made sure Lilith turned out to be Octava without having to manipulate the magic tools.
“Hello!”
When Oscar walked into the mana formal room, the researchers who were waiting there greeted him.
“….”
Oscar, who found a familiar face among them, paused for a moment.
Lilith’s biological mother.
Selena.
‘Right. I never thought I’d ever see her face.’
The one who’s back, Oscar.
Although the time has already disappeared…
Still, there are two people that Oscar can’t forgive.
Selena was one of them.
“Let’s see. Did it work well?”
It’s a big deal if he can’t hold back his anger and even punches her.
Oscar sat arrogantly in a prepared chair, trying hard to take his gaze away from Selena.
“This is the current status of records from 852 to 1026 of capable people who have been measured since the first introduction of mana formal. The capable people that is scheduled to be retested with the new mana formal is Cheshire Libre, and in the first…”
“Y, yeah.”
Of course, Selena handed over the record book and came next to him to explain.
“I’ll see for myself. You’re not very pretty, so don’t come close. I’m not such an empty-headed guy that you even have to explain.”
Oscar pushed Selena away from him and waved his hand as if he were trying to catch a bug.
“Ehem!”
“Hmm.”
No matter how much he is the Lord of the Magic Tower, isn’t that really an arrogant attitude? All the researchers who were watching were displeased.
“Phew.”
Oscar clicked his tongue as he turned to the first page of the record book.
At the top were the names of two out-of-standard capable people who far exceeded the maximum amount of mana that the mana formal could measure.
1006th Enoch Rubinstein: 999999
1026th Cheshire: 999999
“T, this.”
Oscar clicked his tongue and touched Enoch’s name.
“This person also needs to be reexamined…”
In a way, weren’t Enoch Rubinstein’s crazy abilities the beginning of all these tragedies?
No matter how good it looks.
He is a filthy, nasty person who has done nothing for her.
“When is this punk coming? How dare he make me wait?”
Oscar gets up in a fit of rage at the next name, Cheshire.
“…Hello.”
―At the same time, the door opened and Cheshire entered.
From afar, Oscar and Cheshire’s eyes met.
‘That punk.’
A man who returned, a man whom Oscar could never forgive.
Cheshire was one of the two.
Oscar has nightmares every night.
Not a dream, but times that have already disappeared.
Cheshire always came out of his nightmares.
Even if he wanted to forget, he couldn’t.
“Father, I am sorry.”
“Wait. Please wait for a moment, please…”
Lilith, who erased the powerless people without a trace with a single gesture, eventually became a demon.
Enoch Rubinstein cried while watching his daughter.
And in front of him.
“People are dying even at this moment of hesitation. If Primera does not disappear, the future that my father wanted so much will never come.”
“Cheshire!”
“I’m sorry.”
A man who was incredibly cold.
‘Damn it.’
In a small space, Cheshire and himself.
There seemed to be only two people.
But Oscar couldn’t breathe.
