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chapter 48
Rumble!
The entire banquet hall shook.
“What is that sound?”
The well-built man, completely reduced to being Count Rose’s accessory and feeling annoyed, asked irritably.
“I’ll check it out. Butler!”
“Yes, Master.”
“See what’s going on.”
“Yes.”
The butler stepped aside.
However, even after a few minutes, the butler did not return.
Just as Pip pip (the small bird) was about to check again, the well-built man suddenly stood up.
“I can’t stand this any longer! I’ll go check myself!”
Seizing the opportunity, he seemed ready to make a run for it, leading all his attendants toward the door.
“Wait, sir! Just in case…!”
“Hmph, only cowards do that. I—”
But his words ended there.
Bang! As the man opened the door, magical bullets shot at him, attacking him instantly.
Meanwhile, Liliane, who had just opened her mouth wide to eat the last strawberry, bit at empty air.
“Huh?”
The strawberry had vanished, hit by a stray bullet.
Holding an empty fork, Liliane looked around frantically.
In the distance, there was a pixelated strawberry corpse, only red visible, looking like a gruesome crime scene.
“My strawberry!”
Liliane screamed.
At the same time, shouts erupted from both sides.
“Damn! It’s an ambush!”
“Take them out, starting with their heads!”
The banquet hall quickly descended into chaos under a hail of magical bullets.
Caesar, sensing something was wrong, had already cast a barrier to protect the party and immediately noticed the intruder rushing toward Liliane.
“How dare you!”
But before his magic could reach him, Liliane, who had been trembling with her head down, lifted her small face with determination.
“Enemy of strawberries!!!”
Shouting with force, Liliane delivered a 360-degree spinning kick to the intruder’s jaw.
Crack!!
A worrying sound was heard as the intruder collapsed.
Floating in the air, Liliane stomped on the intruder’s face as a finishing move, then leapt high.
“Yah!”
The black Lolita dress and frilly ribbons fluttered, making her look adorable, but to anyone witnessing the scene, it was pure terror.
“Whoa…”
“Ugh!”
Those who were staring blankly at Liliane got hit and fell.
Of course, to the doting father, it just looked impressively brave.
“Princess!”
“Daddy!”
Caesar caught his floating daughter safely and immediately checked her over.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No! But my strawberry was murdered!”
Caesar briefly wondered if he should correct her, since strawberries aren’t alive and can’t technically be “murdered.”
“Those are terrible people.”
“Yes, they’re bad! Punish them!”
“Yes. Daddy will punish them.”
Watching the father-daughter pair shower each other with hearts amid a chaotic battlefield, Pip pip felt a different kind of terror.
‘I- I have to get out of here…’
Then.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He felt a grip on his jaw and shoulder.
A chill ran down his spine.
“You’ll tell me where the auction item storage is before you die, right?”
“I-I’m not dead yet…”
“Just tell me first.”
“You said it wasn’t needed before…”
“Aha, circumstances have changed.”
Eventually, facing the Demon King, Pip pip spilled the locations of the secret storage and keys.
“If you’re lying… you know what happens, right?”
“I’m not! Absolutely not! Eek!”
Caesar struck Pip pip on the back of the neck, knocking him out.
Liliane peeked beside Caesar’s shoulder and whispered to Ilay.
“Pip pip… he’s not really dead, right?”
“Whether he lives or dies is up to him.”
Ilay replied cynically.
This was the end of the untrustworthy bat.
“Oh my, hoho. You entrusted the key to us. How kind of you.”
While interrogating Pip pip, the battle with the intruders reached a lull.
Unexpectedly, the original old man and the group of women in the banquet hall became the victors.
The extra robbers who had suddenly invaded the hall were all lying on the ground.
‘I thought he was just sitting there, but he was the weakest!’
A woman snorted at their surprised expressions.
“He was just the weakest among us. Unfortunately, he’s gone now.”
But unlike the talking woman, the old man silently stared at Liliane.
Liliane bristled at the grim gaze.
‘Something about this feels wrong!’
Caesar patted her and handed her over to Lessa.
“They must have come in while the security was weak.”
“All of them were just small fry.”
“No need for us to fight among ourselves. Looks like there’ll be many ventures together from now on.”
Caesar, the woman, and the old man spoke in turn.
Caesar asked again,
“What do you mean by that?”
“Let’s go to the warehouse together. It’s better to divide the spoils fairly.”
Caesar smirked at the old man’s words.
“That’s an interesting suggestion.”
At the same time, Kane appeared in Caesar’s hand.
He slammed Kane into the ground.
Thud!
A deep blue magic circle, covering the entire banquet hall, appeared underfoot.
Three conditions for casting magic:
A medium, a spell formula, and…
“…You insist on drinking alone! I invited you to join!”
“You’ll regret that choice. Even if you are a magician, it’s useless! I’ve already laid dispel in this room—”
The spell words were cut off.
Seeing the medium (weapon) Kane and the completed magic circle, the woman and the old man realized negotiations had failed and drew their weapons.
A deeply low voice pierced the ears.
“Isn’t this fun?”
Click, click—the sound of heels echoed.
Caesar slowly crossed the banquet hall.
Following his movement—
“Greedy, just like the nobles, yet calling it ‘fair’.”
Night fell.
A pitch-black night that devoured all light.
“This can’t be… what is this…?”
The woman and old man saw their carefully prepared magical formulas shatter and scatter.
And then even that was swallowed by the endless darkness.
“Master…? Why is Master here!?”
They screamed, but the darkness captured their voices, movements, and sight.
In the eternal night.
“You thought I wouldn’t see through your schemes.”
Caesar had recognized their identities the moment he entered the hall.
After returning from the capital with Liliane, he had gathered information on the underworld.
Thus, he changed his objective: not just the holy relics, but also capturing all of them.
The woman provided luxury and indulgence to the nobles.
In other words, a gambler.
Many had been ruined by her bets and left destitute.
The old man,
“Whenever the guard slackened, he probably intended to strike. Every time he looked at my daughter with those disgusting eyes, I wanted to tear him apart.”
A human trafficker, targeting only young, pretty girls.
Caesar was particularly enraged by this.
“Silence.”
The gods granted endless night to those who seek truth.
A great mage who could bend the laws of the world and interfere with fate.
The world called them “Master Mage.”
Under Caesar’s command, the night crushed the criminals.
Liliane held her mother’s and Ilay’s hands tightly, watching a night that would have been terrifying for anyone else.
To her, it felt wonderfully cozy.
…And then.
‘This is bad!’
Even if villains appeared, her parents would handle them instantly, so even a dangerous auction felt like an outing for Liliane.
But.
‘Phew… I really need to go.’
A crisis of human dignity arose.
No one could solve this problem.
While heading to the storage with her parents and Ilay, Liliane squirmed in discomfort.
Ilay, walking beside her, noticed something was wrong.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ilayyy…”
“…What? Why are you sweating? Are you sick?”
“Wh- what? Our princess is sick?”
“Maybe the steak was undercooked.”
Her parents stopped, worriedly looking at her.
The more they looked, the more Liliane stamped her feet.
“I… I…”
“Yes, Liliane. Where does it hurt?”
“I… I need to pee…”
Liliane’s shocking confession brought a moment of silence among them.
“Hmm, natural urges are important.”
“Is there a restroom nearby? Maybe there’s one in the secret passage.”
Sigh…
Ilay lowered his head.
‘Please! Not here! Don’t embarrass me in front of my parents!’
Liliane’s over-open mind caused him endless suffering.
“Daddy, I really need to go…”
“Sweetheart, how long can you hold it?”
“Um…”
Liliane froze, unable to answer.
“About ten seconds…?”
“…!”
“…!”
Sensing the crisis, Caesar immediately scooped up Liliane under his arm.
Likewise, Lessa lifted Ilay.
Ilay panicked.
“No, I…!”
“We’ll go at full speed!”
“Turn left 100 meters ahead, then go straight, then right, open the door, and cross to the other side!”
Lessa’s pupils became vertical slits.
Following her instructions, the duke and duchess ran at an unbelievable speed.
“Princess, hold on a bit longer!”
“Eeeek, I can’t hold it anymoooore….”
“No! A proper villain must also know how to endure!”
