[Vol. 7] Chapter 242: The Illogical Variables
"Go ahead and guess, I know you're very smart. But in the face of this absolute power from another dimension, struggling is pointless. Don't worry, I don't intend to hurt any of you. Only that guy... once he's dead, Princess Carinvega will no longer face a life-threatening risk in this chaos. Since you’re unwilling to help me, I’ll have to ask you... to rest for a while."
“Tap~”
Her pale fingers lightly flicked the girl's forehead, like an arrow piercing her soul in an instant, wiping away all of Rosie’s thoughts and frantic ideas. Everything around the two women, the entire world of the [Nightmare], suddenly shattered.
"Ha... this should be fine now."
In the Frederick Royal Academy audience area, at the spot where Rosie once sat, Orluk withdrew her hand from the girl’s forehead. She glanced at the now limp, soft figure of the blonde girl, who was breathing evenly with her eyes closed, and then turned her gaze toward the still noisy and bustling arena. With a slightly tired expression, she rubbed her head, which was throbbing with occasional bursts of pain.
"I can't stand it. This person’s mental power is just too strong. No wonder she’s so smart... almost three times stronger than Gladys. These people really know how to hide things."
The gray flame patterns hidden in her chest faintly glowed, and a soft voice that only she could hear followed.
"You're pushing yourself too hard. Nightmare's powers are not limitless. Repeated use of this kind of forced mental control puts an enormous strain on the mind. In the end, you're just a mortal with some compatibility and talent. If the borrowed power exceeds its limits... you’ll collapse."
Orluk suppressed the brief paleness on her face with a smile, and murmured as if talking to herself.
"Are you worried about me? The job I needed to do for you is done. Whether I live or die now shouldn't matter, right?"
The voice paused for a moment and then replied calmly.
"Well... this body is still constructed based on your own template of consciousness. Even though the vessel doesn't really matter and can be swapped out whenever, it's still a bit of a waste if it just dies. Actually, I’m quite curious to see how far you can go in the end."
"Hmph, don’t underestimate me. I won’t fall until I’ve dealt with that guy."
Seemingly uninterested in continuing the conversation, the blue-haired thief turned her gaze back to Rosie, who had fallen asleep in her seat.
"With this, the last unstable factor is eliminated. The power left at the hotel should be enough to keep the princess there until everything is over. Next, it's time to act..."
Muttering to herself, Orluk forced herself to stay focused. She turned her head to look at another seat, where a middle-aged man sat motionless from beginning to end. He was sitting upright, his gaze fixed on the arena below, seemingly unaware of everything happening beside him.
"Shutak, you’ll give the speech after the match on behalf of the Empire. Just act natural and don’t let anyone notice anything is wrong. Although... if we’re found out, it’s no big deal."
"I understand, Lady Orluk."
The vice-leader responded without turning his head. Even though he was speaking to the person beside him, his tone seemed more like talking to himself. If one looked closely, they could notice the hint of darkness and stiffness in his eyes.
Clearly, he had already fallen under the control of [Nightmare], with his thoughts and actions influenced by external forces.
Knowing that he would follow her orders exactly, Orluk didn’t linger. She quickly waved toward another figure that had quietly appeared behind her, standing still like a statue, silent and unmoving.
"Alright, Noelle, lock Rosie up and protect her until everything is over. On the way, try to avoid others as much as possible. If you can’t, just say she’s feeling unwell and you’re taking her to rest, got it?"
"Yes, Lady Orluk."
The cat girl with dull, vacant eyes nodded, as if half asleep, and obeyed the thief’s command. She picked up the deeply sleeping Rosie and turned to leave, quickly disappearing into the distance.
Watching them leave, Orluk took a deep breath, as if recalling something. She slowly exhaled, her tired expression now tinged with an unspoken bitterness.
"All for personal desires, huh? Such a sharp judgment... Even so, even if it’s like this, I won’t run away this time."
"Ha... Let’s begin the action."
…………………………………
"Ahhh! What’s going on!?"
In the sixth district, inside the Frederick Royal Academy hotel, the princess followed closely behind a certain priestess, like a little chick hiding behind its mother hen, running nervously. She couldn’t help but make a panicked, deer-like cry once again.
Without even looking back, Violet casually kicked away a guard who had rushed at them, and then smiled nonchalantly.
"I told you, your side has already been infiltrated. As for who did it… you don't have one of those things inside you, so it should be pretty easy for you to figure it out. You seem pretty sensitive in this regard, don’t you?"
Princess Carinvega blinked, quickly catching on.
"Is it... Orluk? She's been acting strange recently, and she even mysteriously got sick. But what exactly is she trying to do? And I’ve known Orluk for so long, I never knew she had any ability to control people. There’s nothing in the game’s information either..."
"Heh, don’t tell me you still don’t know why she’s doing this? Princess, if you keep deceiving yourself like this, some things will be too late to fix~"
Violet gave a meaningful smile and casually kicked two more guards, who were coming at them like zombies, away. She shook her head indifferently and continued.
"As for how Orluk is doing this, let me just say that games are still games, but real creatures keep changing, and gaining new powers that you don’t understand is completely reasonable. To be accurate... they’re actually sleepwalking."
While casually explaining, Violet slammed her staff to "bang!" open the locked hallway door in front of her, then looked behind it. More guards, with blank stares, were approaching them, or rather they were rushing towards Carinvega. With a sharp glare from her silver-blue eyes, a mix of black and white light swirled around them, and all of them instantly collapsed, unconscious.
With her Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden powers, a simple soul shock was all it took to handle those whose actions were controlled. It was a natural counter for her, making it easy to take care of them.
The priestess smiled and turned back.
"By the way, I’m just a weak priestess with no combat ability. This endless back-and-forth is really annoying. Miss Carinvega, may I just kill them all? After all, openly attacking an imperial princess... that’s a death sentence, right?"
"Eh... eh!?"