Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
Russell blinked and stared at Lucion.
[Lucion?]
“Yes, Master-nim.”
[You ended up dizzy a moment ago, but now you’re thinking of using Darkness again?]
“There is nothing else to use it for right now.”
[Tsk. If you were in your right mind, you would already stop eating latchou.]
“Speaking of latchou…”
[No.]
Russell cut him off like a knife.
It was obvious what Lucion wanted to say. The only thing that would come out of his mouth was about increasing his latchou dose.
“There is not much time left until the banquet.”
There was only over a week left, but the problem still remained.
If he didn’t want to get branded as a warlock, he at least needed the best Light resistance he could to endure the Light emitted by a divine beast.
Russell spoke with an ‘I knew it’ expression.
[Are you slowly getting anxious? I told you not to go.]
“I’m not talking it without any thought.”
As the conversation grew longer, Latta checked the expressions of Lucion and Russell and jumped into the flowerbeds in the garden.
“It doesn’t hurt like before, even in scorching sunlight.”
[Must be your imagination. The amount of Darkness that dies because of the sunlight is exactly the same.]
“Well, okay.”
Lucion yielded first.
It wouldn’t do him any good to aggravate Russell any longer.
An opportunity was sure to come, so he would hold his breath for that moment.
“Please teach me the second method now.”
At Lucion’s natural smile, Russell forced a breath through his nose.
[The second method is simpler than you think. More than you think.]
“For Master-nim to emphasize it so much, it seems to be one great step.”
[Of course, it varies for every individual, but in my case, I like the second method better. Well, what are we waiting for? I’ll catch some bastard.]
After Russell disappeared, Lucion grabbed Latta, who was playing in the garden while waiting for him, by the nape.
Because the garden would be completely ruined if she was left alone.
— Look, look. Latta has hands and feet.
“Okay.”
Lucion replied apathetically.
— Latta enjoying every, every day very much because she has hands and feet!
Latta laughed.
— Look, look, Latta is holding a flower.
Latta was holding a yellow flower.
— Lucion. Latta will give it to Lucion.
Latta stretched out the flower held in both of her paws towards Lucion.
Lucion blinked.
“You mean you’re giving it… to me?”
— Yep!
“Why?”
He didn’t do anything to deserve this flower.
Because it felt unfamiliar, Lucion frowned and asked.
— Latta hates latchou but likes flowers! Lucion also likes flowers, so Latta will give it to him.
Latta’s eyes twinkled.
Because she was a divine beast born from him, she had the same exact blue eyes.
‘I never thought that blue… was pretty.’
Lucion’s gaze turned to the flower.
Even though it was a flower he saw almost every day, something was different.
He hated noisy things.
He hated having someone close to him.
When he didn’t know that this world was exactly the same as the one in the novel, he disliked Russell too.
But with Latta, it was different.
‘Is it because she is… my divine beast?’
Lucion carefully stretched out his hand.
In that instant, funnily enough, a red thread connected to the ground appeared.
‘It’s not even a praise stamp.’
Lucion smirked and accepted the flower.
Snap.
It was absurd how easily that red thread was cut off, and the feeling of accepting something from someone else without any suspicion felt strange.
[It’s pretty.]
At Russell’s voice, Lucion flinched and looked at Russell.
The ghost bastard, whom Russell grabbed by the collar, was trembling.
‘… That bastard.’
At the ghost’s familiar face, Lucion’s refreshed feeling flipped completely into anger.
— You… see me? Do you hear my voice? Is that right?
How could he forget?
The instant he met eyes with that bastard, what he felt was fear.
He was barely six at the time.
[Latta, play in the garden for a second.]
Russell quickly snatched Latta from Lucion’s hand and carefully placed her down.
Latta glanced at Lucion and then replied loudly.
— Kay!
[Lucion.]
After Latta disappeared in the garden, Russell quietly called out to Lucion.
“…Yes. I’m calming down.”
Lucion struggled to push down his anger.
He didn’t want to increase negativity, and he absolutely had to prevent Darkness from spreading out on its own.
In addition, he didn’t want to get fuming mad over barely anything.
Russell suddenly slapped the head of the ghost he was holding by the collar.
Slap!
[Turn your peepers. Why are you glaring at my disciple?]
As if dissatisfied with just one hit, Russell hit the ghost’s head one more time.
Bang!
[Usually, ghosts are like the bastard here, no different from dogs.]
As if smeared with malice, Russell’s voice became sharper than before.
[So, if you’re going to make such bastards obey, you have to control them with the Darkness after beating them up.]
“Beating them up? Didn’t You say that attacking them means releasing their grudges?”
Lucion looked at Russell with an absurd face.
[What attacking straight away? If you release the ghost’s grudges, the world is good, and you’re good too.]
[Ple-please wait a second.]
The ghost urgently spoke up, and Lucion smirked.
“That’s a great method. I certainly like it more than the first method.”
[Right? Since you can make pulp out of ghosts like this one, I also like the second method better.]
“I understand more than anything else that being made into a pulp.”
While putting strength into his voice, Lucion moved the Darkness.
Latta, who buried her whole body in leaves in the garden, suddenly perked up her ears.
Swish!
Lucion moved the Darkness and struck the ghost’s face.
[… A warlock?]
Seeing the hit part turn black, the ghost was horrified.
[You really became a warlock? You…?]
“Kneel”
Lucion showed off the Darkness in his palm as he spoke.
Looking at the ghost, Lucion’s eyes became fiercer than a second before.
[W-wait. I’ll do as you order, so… Please erase it.]
‘The moment has come at last.’
Lucion felt a much stronger emotion bubbling in him than the fear of the ghost when he first saw him.
When he became a warlock, he could chase away the petty ghost.
He could release the bastards’ grudges and he would never see them again.
But he didn’t do that.
For this very moment.
To pay back for all the spite and suffering and curses upon curses.
‘The mansion’s ghosts will all kneel at my feet.’
Lucion looked down at the ghost, who slowly got to his knees, while blackness enveloped his body.
[Grab that blacked part. Because it’s dyed with your Darkness now, you can grab it.]
Russell informed him, and Lucion grabbed the part of the blackened scar as he told him.
An ominous chill and trembling of the ghost were transmitted to his fingers.
[Now you plant in the Darkness while asking, ‘Will you obey?’. Now that much should be easy, right?]
“Yes, this much is nothing.”
Lucion looked at the ghost with a stiff face, and while planting the Darkness, he said:
“Obey me.”
[Eeeek!]
The ghost suddenly yelled in agony.
The Darkness Lucion put in him spread out in the translucent ghost body like running ink.
[Eeeek!]
The ghost resisted, but all he did was open and close his fingers, until the Darkness engulfed his whole body.
“I asked if you would obey me.”
At the question following it again, the ghost urgently nodded his head.
[Yes, yes! I’ll obey! I’ll obey, please!]
In an instant, the ghost’s body, which turned pitch black, returned to its original translucent state just as he said that.
A black star, symbolizing the contract, appeared on the back of the ghost’s hand.
[Well done]
At Russell’s praise, Lucion at last let out a deep breath.
“Ha….”
His head was pounding, but he was brimming with greater delight.
Lucion laughed.
“Haha.”
The sound of his laughter gradually grew louder but was suddenly cut off with a snap.
‘It’s not the time to be happy yet. There’s still…’
Lucion looked at the ghost with his usual expressionless face.
“There is a rat in the house.”
[…]
The ghost looked at the ground with an anxious gaze.
“Do you know who is selling my information?”
The ghost couldn’t hide his fear towards Lucion, even at this simple question.
Not knowing when this wriggling and strange existence in his body would turn into a blade, Lucion was beyond scary.
[I know… sir.]
“Speak.”
[It’s the maid… Bella.]
He had never heard that name.
“It’s not just one person, right? Anyone else?”
[I-I don’t know. Truly.]
“You’re no. 2 from now on. Your job is to find all the rats who are selling my information.”
Lucion gave a command and looked at Russell.
Russell nodded.
“Let’s go, Latta.”
Before Lucion took a step to leave, he called Latta.
— Kay!
Latta lightly stuck out her face from between the bushes, smiling faintly.
[That, that…]
The ghost swallowed dry saliva while calling out to Lucion, but he ignored it and kept walking.
‘… that Lucion? That?’
The ghost stared at Lucion’s back gradually disappearing in the distance.
He couldn’t stop his eyes from violently shaking at all.
A month ago, they couldn’t even see Lucion to torment him because of the strange ghost that suddenly appeared.
He thought it was nonsense, but he couldn’t find Lucion’s room, and the locations in the mansion, which he couldn’t enter, were changing from time to time.
The majority of the ghosts in the mansion, with him included, of course, were bastards who had grudges against nobles, so they tormented Lucion and enjoyed seeing him struggle.
So, they naturally searched for the Lucion, who vanished.
While deciding to torment him even more cruelly.
Then, one day, he heard from some bastards that Lucion reappeared.
But funnily enough, most of them still couldn’t see Lucion, while only a few insisted that Lucion was there, so it turned into a strange situation.
‘…that was because he became a warlock. A warlock.’
The ghost at last figured out the reason for the strange situation.
‘That strange host made Lucion a warlock, so we couldn’t see him.’
Knowing the answer, the ghost’s insides didn’t completely cool down.
Rather, they grew hotter.
The gaze with which Lucion looked at him.
For a moment, he thought he would be butchered by that gaze, which said he didn’t forget the grudge of a dozen years of torment.
‘Shit… Shit!’
The ghost shrunk up and trembled.
Hell was awaiting him.
***
“Master-nim.”
Lucion maintained silence, but when he entered his room, he opened his mouth.
[Yeah.]
“Can I rest just for today?”
[Naturally. Rest.]
“Master-nim.”
[Speak.]
“I’m happy. I’m so happy I think I can fly. But on the other hand, I’m afraid.”
Lucion looked at the back of his hand, where the negativity meter was drawn.
He didn’t want to become a mid-boss. He just wanted to enjoy this happiness.
“Am I not drunk on this power? Really, I don’t know if I should be this happy…. Master-nim. Please tell me how happy I should be.”
[Enjoy it to your heart’s content.]
At the unexpected answer, Lucion looked at Russell with a blank expression.
[As the master, I’ll correct my disciple’s mistakes straight away. So, you can be happy to your heart’s content.]
“Yes.”
Lucion perked up his lips at last.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Lucion put the flower he got from Latta on the desk and looked at the evening glow as it had gotten darker at some point.
[What are you going to do about that maid called Bella?]
At Russell’s question, Lucion caught his breath and looked at Russell.
“I have to screw her over properly. So, I’ll play it safe for now.”
[Then it wouldn’t be bad to talk with Anthony.]
Russell spoke with a joyful voice.
Knock knock.
A moment later, there was a knock on the door.
*~*~*
Translator’s note: And I hate both methods :{
Editor’s note: I dunno. I think the mansion’s ghosts kinda deserve it.
Translator’s note2: *about to give a speech about pitfalls of moral justice, before some sensible person drags them out of the room*
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