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“Because it’s a hassle, just stay still.”
Ethan grabbed the man by the hair and yanked him roughly, warning him in a cold voice that made me flinch.
He never showed that kind of side when he was with me, but just like the other four watching now, these people were normally ruthlessly cold toward outsiders.
‘He looks pretty badly injured, though.’
I didn’t know the details, but he had probably been here for a long time. According to Isaac and Letilia, he was a victim of human experimentation.
After hesitating for a moment, I spoke up.
“Ethan.”
“Hm? Shunen?”
Ethan turned around immediately. His voice softened in an instant, and I almost let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“Take it easy, just a little. He looks like he’s in really bad shape.”
“…Take it easy, huh.”
“How about you start by letting go of his hair?”
Apparently, that was a decent enough suggestion, because Ethan obediently relaxed his grip.
He gave a casual shrug—then promptly grabbed the man by the throat.
Uh…?
“You should be grateful that even Shunen bothers to care about trash like you.”
Hey, that just makes me the bad guy here.
Cold sweat trickled down my back. Things were getting more serious, and I wondered if I should explain more clearly—maybe tell him to grab the collar instead?
While I was hesitating, the man’s narrowed, grayish-blue eyes locked onto mine.
“…!”
His glare was intense—so intense that it didn’t take long to realize the emotion burning inside was hostility.
Well, there goes the first impression.
I was half ready to give up and turn away when Ethan suddenly loosened his grip.
Thud!
The man collapsed to the ground.
Letilia called out to him, puzzled. “Ethan?”
“…You…”
Ethan muttered as he stared down at the man. His distorted expression was one I’d never seen before. Isaac and I exchanged glances.
“Ethan, what is it? What did you see?”
“Is something wrong?”
In response to our questions, Ethan roughly pushed his bangs back.
“This one,” he said, still staring at the man curled up on the floor.
“It’s a success.”
And then came the word none of us expected.
“…What?”
Isaac repeated, his eyes narrowing sharply.
“What do you mean, a ‘success’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. He’s the only successful subject of their experiments.”
Shuneria instinctively sucked in a breath. A successful experiment.
There wasn’t a soul here who didn’t understand what that meant.
‘That’s impossible.’
She covered her mouth in shock. This was insane.
It shouldn’t have been possible. People with abilities were born that way—there was no other method. And yet they had artificially created one?
‘Even in the original story, that was established as impossible. How could they…?’
Ethan drove in the nail.
“They succeeded.”
“……”
“He’s an ability user.”
Even if he was manufactured.
After those final words, silence filled the underground chamber for a long time.
❖ ❖ ❖
Letilia was the first to recover.
“An ability user? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Hah.”
She let out a bitter laugh at Ethan’s terse reply.
“They actually succeeded…?”
“Are you serious, Ethan? You’re saying that wreck has powers? He looks like hell—maybe you’re mistaken?”
“Do I look like someone who’d joke about this?”
Ethan’s sharp glare shut Nobel up mid-sentence. “…Fine, forget I said anything.”
Even though the scene was oddly comical, no one laughed. Ethan was already analyzing their options, and so were Isaac and Letilia.
Shuneria glanced at the man behind the iron bars.
‘They actually created an ability user… If that’s true…’
The entire continent would be thrown into chaos. Everyone would scramble to get their hands on the research records, and the existence of human experimentation for the sake of producing ability users would be dragged into the light.
Human experimentation, led by the state itself.
“What happens if we report this to the Emperor?”
Her words made the room fall quiet.
Ethan reluctantly answered.
“Nothing good. One way or another, it’ll get messy.”
“…And if we don’t report it?”
“The only option is to kill him here.”
Shuneria nodded. She’d expected that answer, but hearing it out loud left a bitter taste.
If they kept quiet, the man would die here.
Her eyes involuntarily drifted downward, meeting the man’s weary gaze as he struggled to keep his head up.
If she kept looking, choosing either option would only become harder. She quickly looked away.
Meanwhile, Isaac studied the man coldly.
A person who hadn’t existed before…
Depending on what kind of ability he had, their next moves would change drastically.
Isaac lowered the hand that had been covering his mouth and asked,
“Then what’s his ability? If he’s really a ‘success,’ you sure aren’t treating him like he’s precious.”
Shuneria silently agreed. They wouldn’t have thrown him in a basement like this if they knew what he was worth.
Letilia raised an eyebrow in agreement as well.
Ethan ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“They didn’t realize he had manifested an ability. They mistook a successful subject for a failure. I guess in a way, that’s lucky…”
“What kind of ability doesn’t show?”
After a moment of hesitation, he answered.
“Nullification.”
“What?”
“The ability to nullify other ability users’ powers. That’s his ability.”
Isaac’s face froze. Letilia and Nobel’s eyes widened, and Hazen silently looked down at the man.
Nullification… Shuneria repeated to herself, then quickly spoke.
“Wait. That means no matter how strong the ability user, they’d be no different from a normal person in front of him.”
“Exactly. On the flip side, if there are no ability users around, it’s a useless power.”
“But that’s not the case.”
Ability users were rare, but not nonexistent.
She muttered bitterly,
“Then… he could be dangerous to you guys too. If what Ethan says is true.”
What kind of insane experiment produced something like this? She ruffled her hair in frustration.
Hazen noticed her grimace and cautiously spoke.
“Shunen, are you upset…? Should we just kill him…?”
“Wha—?! No, don’t kill him yet!”
“…Shame.”
“Look, it’s someone’s life on the line. Let’s take our time and think this through, okay guys?”
Shuneria raised her hands to calm them down. Nobel, who looked ready to kill the man on the spot, begrudgingly sat back down in the corner.
Isaac studied the man closely.
“Well, either way, it’s a pretty useful ability. High utility, and he’s partly powerless himself, which is also advantageous.”
“…Isaac.”
“Wait—don’t tell me you’re actually—”
Their eyes asked the unspoken question.
“There’s a good reason to keep him alive.”
And as usual, Isaac ignored their reactions.
“For now, we keep him alive. We’ll take him back to the imperial palace.”
That was the last straw for Nobel. “Are you insane?!”
But Isaac didn’t back down, and when Hazen sided with him, the decision was made. The man would leave the underground alive.
No one there could predict the kind of ripple this double-edged sword would create.
❖ ❖ ❖
Because we stormed into the Emperor’s office without warning, he ended up choking and spraying his tea into the air.
“Cough—Wha, what is this—?!”
“Catch.”
Before he could recover, Nobel casually shoved the man forward.
The man collapsed at the Emperor’s feet.
“He’s the last survivor.”
“The last…?!”
“Oh, and their experiment succeeded. He’s the success.”
“W-wait.”
“You handle the compensation and all the other annoying details since we saved him instead of killing him.”
Before the Emperor could argue, Nobel turned and walked out without a shred of hesitation.
His obvious annoyance made me stifle a laugh.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah. Let’s just go home and rest.”
“Shunen, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
I answered Hazen and glanced at the man one last time.
I couldn’t take responsibility for him, so I decided to focus on the fact that he was alive—for now. The imperial family would handle the rest.
Good luck.
I mouthed the words silently. A short farewell.
The last thing I saw was the Emperor hurriedly trying to help the man up as we headed home.
The “Success.”
After the raid on the border laboratory ended, we returned to the mansion and enjoyed a brief period of peace.
Although the next day, Ethan and Letilia were summoned to the palace to give more detailed testimony.
– This might get messier than expected.
– Why?
– I read a bit more. He’s from Kartilan.
According to Letilia, negotiations might arise over whether the man should be returned. After all, he hadn’t come here of his own will—it was essentially an abduction.
– There’s no way Kartilan would let go of an ability user. They’ll claim ownership no matter what.
– Ownership, huh…
A brutal word, but none described Kartilan’s intentions better. And since he was an unregistered orphan, there was no family to protect him either.
But the Hadenberg family’s role was limited to raiding the lab and rescuing survivors.
What happened next was up to the imperial family.
“Shunen, do you have a moment?”
Letilia called to me as I was having tea in the common room.
“Huh? Yeah, I’ve got plenty of time. Why?”
“There’s something I want to show you. Let’s leave Hazen here to nap and go.”
