NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - Regret
“…Are you really sure it’s okay?”
“Yes. Don’t worry about it.”
I smiled and reassured Claire.
They really worry a lot.
Is it because of the backstory trauma of losing a colleague?
While I understand their clingy behavior to the point of annoyance, it irritated me a bit.
“I was a bit shocked. I want to take a break for a bit.”
“Ah, ah! Of course! But it’s better to be careful. It seems like Lyla had a colleague.”
“…A colleague, you say?”
“Yes. According to what you said, there should have been a body, but it’s since disappeared.”
Ah, that’s right.
Come to think of it, she was a spy created with a similar feeling as the prelude to the attack.
I had forgotten.
Should I explain it properly?
“…The Übermensch. She said something about Übermensch.”
“Übermensch…? I see, thank you. I’ll look into it.”
“Yes. Please do.”
“Okay. …Get some good rest.”
Ms. Claire ended the conversation and left the room.
It was the end of a conversation that took about an hour.
[Ugh… She nags too much…]
“Well, that’s just her personality. Since erasing it would be a waste, we have no choice but to bear with it.”
Even if we find it annoying when we’re subjected to it, it becomes material when Siwoo is subjected to it.
It can’t be helped.
It’s better to deal with the annoyance rather than let it devolve into a bland literary device.
“Well, since Ms. Claire is gone… Shall we go look for our animal-eared friend we hid again?”
***
“Haa, haa…”
“Ah. Found you.”
Her back feels like it’s on fire.
…Ow, ow, ow.
‘Why do I have to suffer like this?’
Lyla wanted to thrash about in pain, but the threads tying her to the tree showed no signs of breaking.
“Hey, could you look at me for a sec?”
It’s so unfair.
I just wanted to display my talents.
The organization told me I had talent.
I just wanted to repay the organization.
I wanted to be acknowledged…
Crack.
“?!”
“Ah, I see you now. …Hello there.”
A loud noise made her look ahead.
…It’s that woman.
The smirking woman, Arte Iris, looks so vile.
“Arte Iris, you…”
“Yes, that’s my name.”
“Die, die, dieee!”
Consumed by rage, Lyla wanted to lunge at Arte.
But that was just wishful thinking.
Her body couldn’t move in any direction, tightly bound to the tree.
“Because of you, because of you, I couldn’t carry out the organization’s orders…”
“Ah, if it’s the orders of the Übermensch, you’ve fulfilled them adequately. Well done.”
“…What?”
Wait a minute.
…How does this woman know the organization’s name?
She never mentioned it.
“Let’s see. To send a warning to the Academy while revealing the Übermensch’s presence to the world, was it? Not bad.”
“You, you. How do you know about that…?!”
“Ufufu. It’s a secret?”
A chill ran down her spine.
Without realizing it, she had stopped thrashing about trying to attack Arte and was simply staring at her in a trance.
She knew everything.
Her orders. The organization’s goals.
…Probably even her inferiority complex.
Everything.
“Don’t worry. I made sure to tell the teacher that this was the work of the Übermensch organization. Your orders have been fulfilled!”
That’s when she realized it.
Who she had provoked.
Why she was so relaxed during their fight.
“Oh? Why are you trembling like that?”
Lyla suddenly realized,
All her actions up to now had been in the palm of Arte Iris’ hand.
That she had rapidly become stronger after taking the organization’s enhancer.
That she had intended to carry out the organization’s orders by causing trouble here.
Arte had known it all.
There was no other way to think about it.
“Ha, haha… Kill me.”
“Pardon?”
“I was just a plaything in your hands? Go ahead and kill me.”
“…Hold on a moment.”
A moment of silence.
The only sounds were the chirping of insects and birds.
When the human conversation ceased in the forest filled with white noise ambiance, the atmosphere became chillingly tense.
Lyla’s newly grown animal ear twitched at the inexplicable creepiness.
“Oh, Author. Killing her would be a bit of a waste, you see. Yes, there’s a better way to use her.”
Author?
Lyla was not sure what that meant. Seems like someone’s title.
Anyway, how could she hear sounds from such a distance now?
‘…Could it be the effect of the ears that grew on my head?’
With four ears, her hearing has become more sensitive.
The only certain thing is that Arte was not alone.
Is she acting together with this “Author” person?
After a long conversation with the “Author,” Arte slowly crouched before her.
“Fortunately for you, Miss Lyla. The Author has given their understanding. You’ll be able to live!”
“Ah, not die…? Me?”
“Yes. You can live. I’d appreciate it if you became my assistant!”
Assistant?
She couldn’t understand what she was talking about at all.
“Unfortunately, I’m short on manpower. I always wished I had someone to help me. You’ll certainly be useful with your outstanding physical abilities, Miss Lyla!”
“…Just kill me–”
At that question, it was just for an instant,
The moment when Arte, who had been smiling, suddenly opened her eyes wide.
Lyla’s wolf-like tail and ears perked up instinctively in response to the perceived threat.
“No, please allow me to be your assistant!”
“Fufu. Good, Miss Lyla. A wise choice.”
Lyla regretted her past actions.
She had ended up working with this woman, all because of a mere inferiority complex.
Unable to overcome that momentary emotion.
“…However, one thing. I should put some precautions in place. It would be trouble if you betrayed me, you see?”
Listening to Arte’s words, Lyla regretted again.
If she could go back, she would have beaten herself senselessly to stop herself.
Now, she had become a puppet dancing in the devil’s hands.
***
[I wanted to refuse and let her die…]
“Haa, I told you. There’s a limit to what I can do alone.”
[But, but!]
I let out a deep sigh at the Author’s stubbornness.
The Author thinks I’m some kind of superhuman.
But I have limits, too.
“There are some things I must do, but I can’t do them if I’m always monitoring Siwoo.”
[…Um.]
“Plus, wouldn’t it be better for the Author to have an extra handle the minor tasks, while I stay by Siwoo’s side to watch him?”
[I-I see?]
“Like in this case, if I had an underling, I wouldn’t have needed to do the prep work myself to get the USB. I could have just ordered them to do it.”
My body is just one.
The Author mostly observes this world from my perspective.
So, I should stay close to Siwoo in most situations.
But if I don’t have someone to handle the odd jobs for me, I have to move whenever something minor comes up.
What if I miss a scene where Siwoo and a heroine set up a date while I’m away?
The Author would be sniffling for days after that.
I didn’t want that.
“And I’ve taken care of the Author’s concern about betrayal too, so please be convinced now.”
I lightly shook the button in my hand.
A single red button between the plastic casing.
Anyone could recognize this object at a glance.
A detonator.
“With her life on the line, she won’t have any silly thoughts, right?”
[I want to see Siwoo’s exploits!]
“Good you understand.”
Well, it’s not actually a real bomb, though.
Even if she tries to rebel, she won’t die.
Instead of a bomb, there’s my thread inside the collar around Lyla’s neck.
This detonator-looking thing is just a fake.
If she tries to take the collar off or shows signs of betrayal?
Shrrk.
The thread will lash out violently, shredding anything around it.
She’ll lose a limb, at the very least.
“…Tch.”
Imagining ripping off one of Lyla’s arms put me in a foul mood.
I don’t quite understand why I’m being so considerate. I could just kill her.
Sure, I needed an underling to act as my hands and feet.
But it took some effort to convince the Author.
There was even less reason to spare this villain girl who was, at best, a potential heroine.
…It’s not like I can’t kill people.
I’ve already killed someone on the very first day I came to this place.
An accident caused by my inexpert use of my abilities.
Some punks trying to mess with my body during the momentary lapse in my control.
At that time, I was unnaturally calm looking at the corpses.
No, perhaps I just lacked a sense of reality.
The Author calmly disposed of the sprawled bodies in an instant, further distancing me from reality.
[…? Dear Reader?]
“No, it’s nothing. Now let’s see… Ah, here we go.”
Am I feeling guilty for turning an ordinary student into a villain?
Or was I just being capricious?
…Who knows? Thinking about it is just giving me a headache.
I should think simply.
I just wanted to keep her alive. Isn’t that enough?
“Alright, let’s watch the vid-”
[…Huh?]
What’s this?
…Where did the video go?
“The, the video is…Where did it go?”
I started searching through the folders on the USB one by one.
The video was nowhere to be seen.
Don’t, don’t tell me…
“I, I found i-?!”
Ah.
I thought I found it, but.
…The video was there, yes.
But it was just the remainder, excluding the portion deleted by the power outage setting.
“D-did I mess up the settings…?”
Instead of a power outage, I should have used a different reason.
Since the reason was already recorded as a power outage, all the footage I had must have been treated as not being recorded due to the blackout.
It was my mistake.
[I, I trusted you.]
“Author, c-calm d-”
[I trusted you, dear Reader! Waaaaahhhhh!]
This is maddening.
…How do I fix this mess?
A different kind of headache started coming on, unlike before.
I began regretting my earlier actions.
I really should have gotten an underling sooner.
Author’s Notes
I stopped before Lyla became a furry and just became a pretty girl with animal ears.
There were more people than expected who accepted it as furry.
Everyone has those tastes.
Translator’s Corner
There is a lot of stuttering in this chapter, and I used to different formats: ‘I, I trusted you,’ and ‘Author, c-calm down.’ I wanted to show a difference in timing with commas being a small pause, and dashes being faster.
-Ruminas