Chapter 7: The Hero’s New Job (6)

　　“I did well, didn’t I?” I asked as we returned to his room, my hand still holding his tightly.

　　I was secretly worried he might find it strange that I had ripped a pillar out of the ground, but Sedian didn’t seem to question it. He was either too relieved to have escaped the situation or too bewildered by my confident question to have noticed.

　　“Honestly, that was refreshing, wasn’t it? I must have looked like a savior.”

　　“It would be wonderful if you’d just shut your mouth.”

　　“Does that mean you like everything about me except for my mouth?”

　　Sedian shot me a pathetic look before finally pulling his hand from mine and walking to the bed. I shrugged.

　　“I’ve also cleaned the room spotlessly. How is it? Do you like it?”

　　Perched on the edge of the bed, Sedian stroked the freshly laundered, fluffy bedding. A faint smile touched his lips before vanishing. “…It’s not bad.”

　　Honestly. If he likes it, he should just say so. Such a dishonest boy.

　　“By the way, my lord.” I walked toward him. “Look at me.”

　　I held up my hand—my perfectly smooth, unblemished hand. “Perfectly fine, right?”

　　I saw his eyes waver slightly. I held my hand closer, wiggling my fingers to show him just how fine it was.

　　After a moment of silence, Sedian let out a heavy sigh and glared at me. “Even if you were to drop dead tomorrow, I wouldn’t be sad. You’d just be a stupid bastard who died doing exactly what I told you not to.”

　　That again. I was frustrated that he still didn’t believe me, but I understood. I knew how deeply he must have been wounded by the stares of others, how much pain he must have endured. I decided I needed to be clearer. I knelt on one knee before him and placed my hand over his, where the skin was raw and peeling.

　　Of course, I had another motive as well.

　　“I will be perfectly fine tomorrow, and the day after.”

　　I felt the tension in his stiff hand ease slightly. Focusing my magic on our point of contact, I spoke calmly. “So please, don’t listen to the words of those nasty people who charge in without knowing anything.”

　　I could feel my magic flowing into him. It was a minuscule amount, and with more than half his body rotted away, he was likely too numb to notice. There were no visible changes, but I had a definite feeling that if I kept this up, the curse would break. I squeezed his hand tighter.

　　“Because you’ve done nothing wrong, my lord.”

　　Sedian didn’t answer, but he didn’t pull away either. I held his hand for a long time before finally leaving the room.

* * *

　　“Damn it! Who the hell was that guy?” one of the reporters who had been at Sedian’s estate shouted, stomping his foot.

　　“What kind of lunatic was that?! Does he not know who we are?”

　　“I think he knew perfectly well. Just you wait. I’ll make him come crawling and begging. I’ll show him just how terrifying my pen can be!”

　　The fuming reporters were seeing red. Among them, one who seemed to have a better grip on his senses cautiously raised a hand. “But… what if we all end up dead if we do that?” He shivered, recalling the servant who had so casually ripped a pillar from the ground and thrown it. “His eyes… he looked like a battle-hardened mercenary. I don’t think we should mess with him.”

　　At his words, the other reporters gulped. True. He did look terrifying. If they hadn’t backed down, they might have all been torn to shreds… The reporters quickly shook their heads, banishing the thought. They couldn’t let themselves be scared by something like this!

　　“Hey! Why are you so spineless? Do you have any idea who’s backing us?”

　　“That’s right! We have powerful support! There’s no need to be afraid of some servant!”

　　“Will… ‘they’ still protect us even if we failed to do the job properly?”

　　“Well, that’s…!”

　　The reporters began to chew their lips. They were journalists chasing a scoop, but they were also men who had been paid to write articles tailored to a certain agenda.

　　“Damn it. What should we report?”

　　“They wanted us to bury him for good this time! And because of that ignorantly strong bastard…!”

　　As they scowled anxiously, one of them clapped his hands as an idea struck him. “Then let’s try this. Let’s say we were assaulted.” He grabbed the fountain pen hanging from his neck and chuckled. “We’ll establish it as fact that Sedian Luciano transfers his curse, and that the righteous reporters trying to expose the truth were assaulted and chased away… How does that sound?”

　　If they wrote an article like that, it would cause an immediate uproar. It would be unverified, but people would believe it simply because it was in the newspaper. Sedian, the cursed pariah, wouldn’t be able to escape the criticism. A proud smile spread across the man’s face. The very thought of it was exhilarating.

　　“What’s wrong? Why is everyone so quiet?”

　　But strangely, his colleagues didn’t react. The same men who had been laughing along with him just a moment ago. Puzzled, he turned to look at them.

　　“…Huh?”

　　And then he saw it.

　　Aargh, Ack.

　　A masked man had his colleague in a chokehold, silencing him. The rest of his companions were already collapsed on the ground, apparently taken down in the same manner.

　　“Wh-what…! Who are you?” the reporter, Michael, stammered. He sized up the masked man—who was slender, not even half his size—and, feeling no sense of disadvantage, started swinging his fists wildly. “Do you know who we are? Huh? Who sent you? Are you one of those Gillishad bastards?”

　　As he spoke, his confidence swelled, and he pounded his chest. “Tell those bastards this! I, Michael, won’t be taken down by just one person—urgh!“

　　His shout was cut short. Michael’s face went pale as he sucked in a breath. The masked man had struck him in the groin.

　　“You… you bastard… you dirty…” He clutched himself between his legs and crumpled to the ground. Momentarily stunned by the pain, he finally managed a scream. “Ah, you, you, wh-who are you?! Who are you?!”

　　“Me?”

　　The man paused for a moment, then a grin spread across his face as he pulled off the mask.

　　The moonlight reflected off his pale skin, making it shine. His greenish eyes, almost lemon-colored, fixed on the man on the ground. Hair as dark as the night, eyes brimming with killing intent, a twisted mouth tinged with viciousness…!

　　That man is…!

　　“I’m a butler, you bastard.”

　　It was him: Lord Sedian’s butler.

* * *

　　I munched on a cookie I had taken from the kitchen and crossed my legs. A groan escaped from the man I was sitting on. “Ah, uh, ugh… heavy…”

　　With his face pressed to the ground and my full weight on his back, it was no wonder he was struggling. But his discomfort was none of my concern. I tapped him on the head with the same wooden stick I’d used to beat them all.

　　“Tsk. You’re slumping. Snap out of it.”

　　“I-I will!”

　　In the alley, it wasn’t just the man I was sitting on; four others were kneeling with their heads to the ground. I had beaten every last one of them. I wasn’t used to this sort of thing, of course. Before I was transmigrated, my experience was limited to caring for and soothing people. When would a nurse ever have a reason to hit someone? The only reason I had no qualms about it now was thanks to the ‘friends’ I’d fallen in with right after arriving in this body. They had helped me when I was struggling to survive, and they had taught me how to fight and how to threaten. Whether it was because Reina Khan’s body was a natural fighter, I picked it up in no time. And so, I learned how to protect myself and how to land a punch.

　　“So.” I popped the rest of the cookie into my mouth and tilted my head. “You’re obviously not ordinary reporters. And the fact that you came all the way from the capital suggests you’re working under orders.”

　　At that, the man with the salt-and-pepper hair cried out, “N-no, that’s not it! We’re just honest reporters trying to expose Lord Sedian’s misdeeds!”

　　“Getting rich and playing fair—what a perfect match, you punks. Are you trying to get yourselves killed?”

　　“Agh! He’s killing me!”

　　I offered the back of his head a few more affectionate taps with the wooden stick before sighing and clenching my fist. “Who hired you?”

　　The moment I spoke, I saw their faces darken.

　　“I heard everything, so you can stop playing dumb.”

　　As if they’d never been chattering away, they fell silent and exchanged nervous glances. I rested the wooden stick diagonally on my shoulder and glared down at them.

　　“Why the silence? You know I’m letting you off easy, don’t you?”

　　They remained silent.

　　“The only reason you’re still alive isn’t because I’m merciful, but because dealing with corpses is a pain in the ass.” I stared down each of them in turn as I continued, “But, well, if you won’t talk, I suppose it can’t be helped. If I start killing you one by one, someone is bound to talk…”

　　“It was the Gray Company!” the large man I was sitting on shouted. “The Gray Company sent a request to our newspaper!”

　　Once he broke, the others began shouting one after another.

　　“Ye-yes! That’s right! But we don’t… we don’t know why! They just hired us, and we were only following orders!”

　　“Yes! That’s right! They said they’d pay us a lot of money, so…!”

　　I let out a dry laugh. “So you decided to torment Sedian, who’s already suffering enough from a curse?”

　　“Well…”

　　“Ahem. You know, as one goes through life, these things just happen,” the one with the pretentious tone chimed in.

　　I shot him a withering look. “Right. And as one goes through life, one can also die. Feel like dying?”

　　“…My apologies.”

　　I let out a sigh. At the moment, I was living in hiding, concealing my identity as Reina, the Great Mage. Causing a scene here risked exposing me.

　　“You should be grateful for my current predicament. In the past, you all would have been dead.”

　　“Yes, sir…” they mumbled.

　　I stood up and patted down the men, who still had their heads bowed, searching their pockets. I smashed all their recording magic stones, except for the ones that had already captured our conversation, and used their single camera to take a picture of each of their faces.

　　“I’m letting you go just this once. Watch your mouths from now on, unless you want these photos and recordings to get out.”

　　They were too stunned to speak. They scrambled to their feet with bewildered expressions, cautiously watching me.

　　“S-so, uh… um. Can we… really go?”

　　“You’re not going to, like, throw a knife at our backs as we leave, are you?”

　　“Go when I tell you to. Just get out of here.”

　　“Yes, sir!”

　　Before I even finished speaking, they were already sprinting away. I waved a hand at their retreating figures.

　　“Be careful on your way home every night. Got it?”

　　I was the kind of person who never let an enemy lower their guard, not until the very end. After watching them flee for their lives, I turned my gaze to the sky.

　　The Gray Company, huh?

　　It seemed Sedian had made an enemy of someone powerful without even realizing it.