SSS-Class Revival Hunter

Chapter 92: Falling (2)

Romantic Fantasy Rule 1: Any man near the lead characters is suspicious.

Romantic Fantasy Rule 2: The most ordinary man is actually the most extraordinary.

* * *

Out of nervousness, my heart beat out of sync like a broken piano. That was how ominous the Inquisitor’s laughter was. I felt like the ground below me had given out and I was sliding down a dark hole I couldn’t see the bottom of.

“Inquisi—”

“You look to be well, Lady Goldencup.”

Lady Silver Lily called out the name given by this world before I could say the name given by the Tower.

“I heard you were attacked by assassins... You really are a girl who grew up in the outskirts. You’re persistent as a weed. I guess a couple of assassins are nothing to you,” Lady Silver Lily scoffed.

The Inquisitor smirked. “Did you come all the way here this late at night to compliment my health? I am deeply touched, my lady. I am overjoyed that the crown prince and many others are worried about me despite my shortcomings! I even feel like tonight’s tragedy was in fact a stroke of good fortune!”

I realized a bit later that there was a sneer in his voice. The normal Inquisitor would never have said those words. Two thorns were hidden in the Inquisitor’s remarks. One was a threat: “Aren’t you the one who hired the assassin?” Another was a taunt: “The crown prince was worried about me and came to see me.”

The eyes of Lady Silver Lily became venomous.

“... Even the thoughts in your head are messy, like weeds. A thin line sets apart imagination from delusion. Whether or not one crosses the line is the measure of a person’s dignity. I hope you will keep your manners as a proper noble should.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! So it wasn’t against etiquette to slap someone on the cheek during a ball? Oh, I grew up in a family from a remote region and didn’t know the etiquette of a duke’s family!

“If I may, would you be so kind as to invite me to your salon some time? I would love to receive a lesson on etiquette from you. You see, I’m not used to hitting people, so I think I need to learn more about the angle and strength of the hand that goes into a slap.”

The Inquisitor’s mouth was on fire. I heard a strange drumming sound that I couldn’t quite place. When I listened more closely to the noise... What the hell? The sound was coming from my heart.

An ominous feeling squeezed my heart and crawled up my neck.

“Lady Goldencup! How rude of you!”

“You’re just the daughter of a provincial baron’s family, but you keep making outrageous remarks...”

The Inquisitor’s waltzing mouth made the duke’s servants indignant. Some of them had given into the crown prince’s persuasion and betrayed their master. I didn’t know if there was one traitor or many, but it wasn’t important right now.

“My apologies!” I hurriedly got between the gold and the silver.

Lady Silver Lily’s eyebrows furrowed. “You are...”

“Lady Goldencup is very shocked due to tonight’s unfortunate incident. As her servant, lowly as I may be, I believe she is in desperate need of some rest. Given the late hour, perhaps the ladies should end their conversation here? I believe we can resolve the misunderstanding tomorrow.”

Lady Silver Lily pursed her lip. Her servants huffed and puffed behind her, but nothing more. When their master raised her right hand, they all stopped moving and became silent. This would have been impossible if she hadn’t always been very strict with her subordinates.

“Wait a minute, butler. What are you talking about?” The Inquisitor—Lady Goldencup—of all people, resisted my mediation. “I still have much to talk about. Don’t finish the conversation as you please...”

“Be quiet.” I grabbed the Inquisitor’s wrist and basically dragged him away.

“Oh, hold on, butler!” The Inquisitor struggled to break free. “Wait a minute!”

But I did not let go of his wrist. I really couldn’t let his immersion level get any higher than it already was.

“My lady.” I looked back just before I left the hallway.

Lady Silver Lily was looking at us with an enigmatic expression. “...What is it?”

“I’ve always admired how disciplined the servants of your family are, and this night I had the chance to see it again. Their discipline is admirable indeed, unlike me.” I bowed to her. “I have learned much from you all. Although I am of humble birth, I would like to offer my respect to you, my lady. Excuse us.”

I dragged the Inquisitor out of the hallway. The Inquisitor gradually became more docile.

A wide flower garden stretched the span between the ballroom and the dormitory. Newly bloomed magnolias’ heads drooped, and their fragrance wafted through the white flower trees. A nocturnal bird, entranced by the scent of the flowers, touched one of the pale magnolias with its claws, causing it to fall.

“Wow.” The Inquisitor stepped on the fallen magnolia. “Ah.”

He stopped and looked up at the night sky. After a while, he turned back to me, looking stunned. The Hunter, who was said to be the craziest in the tower, muttered in disbelief. “Mr. Death King... What did I just say there?”

* * *

The Inquisitor and I were quiet as we walked to the dormitory. We exchanged no words. The silence slowed me down, making it a little difficult to walk.

The way from the garden to the dormitory naturally came to my mind. Perhaps the higher the immersion level was, the clearer the character’s memories became. At this moment, it was hard to judge whether this was a good or a bad thing.

"Let's make a code word," I said as soon as I closed the door of the dormitory behind me.

“A code word...” The Inquisitor blinked. “A secret code word...?”

“This will be really dangerous if we do nothing about it. We need to pull ourselves together.”

“Yes, we should, Mr. Death King. You’re right. Yes...” The Inquisitor spoke faster than he was thinking. He seemed to be desperately trying to hold onto something as it was slipping away. It was an ominous sign that the person in front of me was in danger.

I held the Inquisitor’s head tightly with both hands and forced him to meet my eyes. “When spring comes, magnolias fall.”

“What...?”

“When I say ‘When spring comes,’ you answer ‘Magnolias fall.’ That’s our code word to wake up. Now tell me if you understand. When spring comes?”

“Magnolia...”

“Again. When spring comes...”

“Magnolias fall.” The Inquisitor’s eyes grew clearer little by little and looked at me instead of into empty space. He shook his head and then nodded. After repeating the code a number of times, he said, “Okay! I’m myself now!”

“Good job.”

“Thank you, Mr. Death King! Hahaha. I seem to have been struck by wonderful surprises all day long today. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget this day.”

“Would you like a cup of tea to calm down?”

“Yes, please!” The Inquisitor nodded.

Good. It was too early to give up this try. I wrapped a blanket around the Inquisitor and headed to the kitchen. As expected of an academy where children of the imperial family and noble families attended, there was a kitchen in Lady Goldencup’s room at the dormitory, albeit small.

I found tea leaves and a kettle without a problem.

“Wow.” I was dumbfounded as I made the tea. “My body just moves on its own...”

For my entire life, I had never really brewed tea using anything other than tea bags. But my hands moved as if I had been using a teapot for a long time. My body even enjoyed brewing tea. That was a side effect of immersion.

Lady Goldencup likes it best when I mix milk into black tea and add a spoonful of honey. I hummed. I asked a servant of the academy to get me some honey for moments like this. It’s a little expensive, but since she’s always very frugal, it’ll be okay...

[Your character immersion has deepened.]

[Your immersion level is 6%.]

...It wasn’t okay! It wasn’t okay at all! Shit! This fucking romance novel! Why the hell did people in this world get so happy about ​​putting honey in black tea!? I would rather open their skull and spread honey over their synapses. Then I’ll fill them with honeycombs! n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

[Shiny is worried about you... but still expresses her minority opinion that you look good in your butler’s uniform.]

My sword happily flickered away. Perhaps I was imagining things, but the sword’s light seemed to be more radiant today even though its owner was crouched down clutching his head in pain.

I can't let the butler take over my mind. I clenched my teeth. I can't—not after all I’ve gone through to clear the stages!

Spite rose within me. I decided not to make tea like my original character. I used a kettle and took out a teacup the butler didn't normally use. When I was done, I gave the tea to the Inquisitor.

The Inquisitor took a few sips of tea and tilted his head. “Mr. Death King.”

“Yes?”

“The tea tastes strange!”

“So?” I asked.

“Unless my sense of taste has been dulled, this saltiness is coming from salt. Am I wrong?”

“That tea is supposed to taste like that.”

“Oh, it is? I think this is closer to salt water than tea. If I measured the salinity, it would probably be classified as plain salt water.”

“Just shut up and drink.”

“Understood! I’ll shut up and drink!” The Inquisitor slurped down the tea, smiling brightly. “Thank you for the tea! It was salty!”

Yes, this was how that should be. My natural-born psycho finally regained his usual innocence.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“We should make the villainess and the crown prince fall in love.” I sighed. “Or at least we should crush any romance between Lady Goldencup and the crown prince. Let’s try to make one of the two endings happen.”

“Operation Crushy Crush...”

The Inquisitor named the operation as he pleased, but, well, it didn’t matter. I preferred the latter of the two endings as well.

I’ve never been in a relationship, so I don’t know much about love, but won’t it be easier to break a couple than make one? I thought.

Both the Inquisitor and I agreed on this one hundred percent.

“For that to happen, the crown prince’s love for Lady Goldencup has to die! Do you have any plans for making that happen?”

“Yes, I do.” It had come to me when I had been making tea earlier and almost lost my mind. We needed to take special measures for this stage.

There was actually a very effective way to weaken the crown prince’s love toward Lady Goldencup while also maintaining both of our sanity—especially mine.

“What’s your plan?”

“All else aside, the more you act like Lady Goldencup and the more I immerse myself in a butler’s mindset, the more our immersion level will increase. Let’s think it the other way around: what would happen if we acted nothing like Lady Goldencup and her butler? Our immersion level might drop. Even if it doesn’t, at least it won’t increase. How does that sound?”

The Inquisitor’s eyes lit up. “... Indeed. It’s a simple but good method, as expected of you, Mr. Death King! You’re really the Hunter who cleared the once unchallengeable tenth floor and made it to the twentieth floor fast as lightning!”

“Thank you for the compliment. I like it. Well, anyway, my plan is simple” I flicked my fingers and activated my Skill. “From now on, you’ll become the delinquent young noble lady, and I’ll be the bad butler.”

The Inquisitor tilted his head. “Huh?”

Monster Legion Reincarnation was active. I didn’t need to summon a lot like I had done in the Heavenly Demon Chronicle. We needed one specific monster—and desperately.

My shadow slowly transformed into a man with a ponytail. He looked like the most stuck-up person in the universe.

“Hey...” His name was Yoo Soo-Ha, the Fire Emperor. As soon as I summoned him, his face crumpled like a wad of tissue paper. “You son of bitch, what kind of fuckery are you trying to make me do this time—”

“Abracadabra. It’s time to be quiet.” I flicked my fingers once more.

“—Ugh, ugh! Ughhhhh!”

No matter how harsh he spoke, he couldn’t disobey my orders. He just kept wriggling like a caterpillar trapped in a spider web. Looking at Yoo Soo-Ha made my gloominess fade away a lot. How should I put it? I felt like I was closing the lid on a trash can. It also felt like the fine dust in my heart was washed away. The man was like the dustbin of a vacuum cleaner.

“Mr. Inquisitor.”

“Yes, Mr. Death King!”

“You look too much like a model student,” I said, seriously. “Everything you do is done out of very pure, innocent intentions. You’re far from the perfectly delinquent young lady. Too far.”

The Inquisitor’s ears perked up. “Ah, if there is anything I lack, please teach me! I’ll learn!”

“Yes, I’ll set up a one-on-one lesson for you.” I slowly looked at Yoo Soo-ha. “I have the best tutor to lead you to the path of delinquency.”

“Haha, I’m looking forward to it!” The Inquisitor smiled like a puppy.

“Ugh... Ugh! Ugh!” Yoo Soo-Ha grimaced like the son of a bitch he was.

Between the puppy and the son of a bitch, I found myself nodding seriously. Seriously.

“Okay, let’s become delinquents.”

The next day, Sormwin Academy was turned upside down.