The Opportunity from the Game Becomes Reality Episode 73
============================================================
The Opportunity from the Game Becomes Reality Episode 73
21. Saintess Contest (4)
"Damian?"
At the questioning knight's puzzled inquiry, the eyes of the standby team colleagues focused on Damian.
Damian, who had been spouting nonsense, curled his lips into a mischievous grin as if pleased by something.
"Oh dear, I seem to have momentarily forgotten the name."
At that abnormal display, the knight sensed something alien and his expression stiffened.
Unless one was a fool, it was impossible not to notice.
The person before them was not the Damian they knew.
"Kek!"
The knight who had spoken to Damian hastily stepped back and reached for his sword.
-Clench!
But he could not draw his sword.
For at some point, a knight named Parmann had grabbed his arm from the side.
"Sir Parmann?"
The flustered knight's question rang through the waiting room, and sensing the situation could no longer be watched, the fellow knights took battle stances, wary of both Damian and Parmann.
"Stop fooling around. Do you want to ruin the mission?"
"Come on, people make mistakes."
"When mistakes are frequent, one starts to think they're intentional."
"Fine, fine. Just erase it then. Honestly, that stick-in-the-mud attitude of yours."
Unlike the rising tension around them, Damian and Parmann's conversation remained utterly calm.
"You're imposters! Reveal your true identities!"
"What have you done to Damian and Parmann!"
The standby knights drew their swords and surrounded the two, pressing in on them.
The moment their cover was blown during a covert operation, the mission was as good as failed.
But the two's unperturbed reactions kept the standby knights from letting their guard down.
"Huh?"
But then.
Only for a moment.
-Shink.
The knights who had drawn their swords all simultaneously sheathed them again and silently returned to their positions.
Then they all shook their heads left and right.
"Did I doze off for a second? My head feels foggy."
"You too? Same here. Must be tired."
Somehow, they no longer remembered what had just happened.
And so, though the crisis was averted in that inexplicable situation, Parmann glared at Damian and scolded him.
"You have a tendency to rely too heavily on your abilities."
"Isn't it fine to rely on them to this extent? No matter what I do, I can just flip people's memories like this and it becomes as if it never happened."
Even as Damian giggled and clapped, no one paid him any further attention.
As if they didn't even know the two were in the room.
Then, feeling something stroke his cheek, Parmann shot Damian a murderous glare.
That look was a warning.
"Fine, fine."
At that, Damian wiped the smile from his face and clicked his tongue.
He judged there was nothing to gain from provoking him further.
"Geist has no attack ability anyway. Aren't you being overly sensitive?"
At Damian's sulky remark, Parmann snorted and took the seat in front of him.
[This castle is a place where Grand Mages, Aura Masters, and Archbishop-level clergy come and go constantly. No matter how stealthy a mental spirit Geist is, there are plenty of people capable of detecting it.]
A voice that rang not in the eardrums but directly inside the mind.
He had used a telepathy artifact to convey his thoughts just in case.
At Parmann using even telepathy to watch their surroundings and point out his rashness, Damian waved his hand dismissively as if fed up.
[If we really wanted to, we could slaughter every person in this castle. What's the problem?]
But even as he said that, Damian replied via telepathy.
[The problem is that it might not be that easy.]
"What?"
Parmann slowly turned his head and scanned the surroundings.
Sure enough, thanks to Damian's mental spirit Geist, no one was paying the two any attention.
[I've infiltrated many places so far, but have we ever had this much trouble getting close to a target?]
[Not never.]
[No, it's never been this difficult.]
[Is that so?]
[Yes, Marquis Lawrence is a meticulous man. He doesn't let anyone into his actual residence except designated personnel, and he personally inspects the staff at set times, no matter how familiar he is with them. If we undergo his inspection, can you be sure we won't be caught?]
"Hmm..."
Whether we get caught or not would depend on the method of inspection.
But Damian seemed unbothered by the prospect of being caught.
[If we get caught, I can just flip their memories. If that doesn't work, kill them.]
It was drastic, but the most effective method.
However, Parmann couldn't agree with that approach.
[Don't forget. Our target is not Marquis Lawrence, but the girl named Ibril. There's no need to take unnecessary risks. Marquis Lawrence is a man with far more hidden beneath the surface than what's publicly known.]
[Why are you so worried today of all days?]
Damian's sneer made Parmann shake his head.
In the end, he brought up an unexpected story to heighten Damian's caution.
[Before we infiltrated the Lord's estate, I once observed Marquis Lawrence from a distance.]
[And? Did you sense something extraordinary about him?]
[No, it's not that.]
[Then what?]
[Our eyes met.]
[Huh?]
Damian had expected some grand reason, but hearing that it was merely because their eyes met, he couldn't help but feel baffled.
[I make eye contact with hundreds of people a day, you know?]
[It's not like that.]
But at what followed in Parmann's story, Damian had to furrow his brow.
[A gaze as if he'd found what he'd been searching for. A lingering smile directed at me. You wouldn't understand unless you'd experienced it.]
[...Isn't it just a coincidence?]
[I wish it were. But his gaze just won't leave my mind.]
It was only then that Damian could understand Parmann's reaction.
Of course, it was likely an overreaction, but in this line of work, one couldn't simply ignore one's instincts.
[No, forget it. I think I was overreacting.]
[Still, I'll be as careful as you suggested.]
Thanks to that, Damian became at least somewhat more cautious, so Parmann's plan had worked as intended.
They forced away unnecessary emotions and waited for the right moment.
-Wiiiing!
"It's happening!"
And a moment later.
The time they'd been waiting for had come.
* * *
-Intruders detected in the east wing!
"Move out immediately!"
With the intruder alert sounding from the situation room, the standby squad leader gave the order to deploy, and twenty knights including Damian and Parmann hurried out of the waiting room.
The east wing of Marquis Lawrence's estate housed the Lord's office and private chambers, so the knights sprinting down the corridor looked extremely urgent.
But among them, only Parmann and Damian harbored different thoughts.
'Just as planned.'
The current intruder situation was an operation designed to get the standby squad the two belonged to deep into the heart of the Lord's estate.
"The intruders are five expert-level assassins armed with Force Daggers! The Lord and his Guards are fighting them!"
"Damn it! Force Daggers?!"
A Force Dagger refers to a Force Sword developed for assassins.
Unlike a Force Sword, it's a cheaper model incapable of ranged attacks, but at close range it performs on par with a Force Sword, making it a favorite among high-ranking assassins.
Naturally, it was incredibly difficult for ordinary knights not Vanguards to deal with.
"The east wing standby squad probably arrived first! We'll support them and cut off the assassins' escape routes!"
And so, while the support squad knights' attention was all on the Lord.
'The target is staying in the last room of the east wing, near the Lord's office.'
Damian and Parmann broke away from the group.
But the knights, under the influence of the mental spirit, treated the two as if they didn't exist and paid no mind.
The soldiers stationed at their guard posts tilted their heads at the two's sudden deviation.
But since the other standby squad knights said nothing, the soldiers simply assumed it was part of the operation and didn't pay it much attention.
Damian smiled with satisfaction at that, while Parmann felt immense relief that things were proceeding without a hitch.
-Boom! Bang!
They then passed by the Lord's office where the intruders were loudly clashing, and arrived at their destination.
-Bang!
Riding on the popularity of Marquis Adrian Lawrence, the girl being mentioned here and there as a Saintess candidate 'Ibril Barnet.'
She stood in a corner of the room with a terrified expression, accompanied by only two female Guards.
"What is this? Sir Damian, Sir Parmann. Aren't you two from the standby squad? Why would those who should be protecting the Lord come here?"
"We were told the Holy Knights had withdrawn, leaving this place short on Guards. So we came to provide support."
However, Ibril's Guard Knights did not fully trust Parmann's words.
They raised their Aura and donned their Vanguard equipment.
"Within the castle, no one may contact Lady Ibril except those designated by the Lord. Reinforcement troops for Lady Ibril will arrive shortly. You may return."
They were quite capable Guards.
They must be in a frenzy, yet they still showed such composure even in an emergency.
In the end, Parmann let out a sigh and drew his sword.
Then, an Aura Blade formed upon Parmann's sword.
"An Aura Blade?"
"Y-You're assassins!"
An Aura Master in this situation the two Vanguards guarding Ibril swallowed dryly.
No matter how excellent Vanguard equipment was, the two of them alone could not possibly defeat an Aura Master.
Moreover, the presence of Damian, grinning sinisterly behind Parmann, could not be ignored.
And so Parmann, Aura Blade in hand, lunged forward, and the two Guards hastily swung their Force Swords.
-Ting!
But a sudden, overwhelming headache assaulted them, and the strength drained from their legs.
Forced to their knees by an unknown power, their attacks came to nothing.
"Ugh!"
Thanks to that, Ibril was left completely exposed before the Aura Blade.
"Lady Ibril!"
"No!"
The Force Armor helped ward off the spirit's mental attack, but it was too late to block the Aura Blade.
-Boom!
"W-What?"
But what followed was entirely unexpected.
"Ugh!"
Ibril, who had been an ordinary girl until recently as a Saintess candidate...
Not only did she dodge the Aura Master's blade, but she drove a body blow into his side with her slender fist.
Everyone wore a stunned expression.
Damian too, and both of Ibril's Guards.
But Parmann, who had taken the hit, gritted his teeth and shouted.
"It was a trap! This one's a different woman!"
At Parmann's shout, Ibril drew a longsword from her voluminous skirts.
"Ah..."
And as a pure white Aura Blade formed upon that longsword, Ibril's appearance blurred as if erased by an eraser.
"Lord Count Klein!"
The name the Guard Knights cried out in exultation.
The very partner of Adrian, and the sixth Aura Master of this nation.
It was Arcia Klein, the Lord Count.
"So the plan leaked out?"
"I'd say they caught on rather than it leaked."
Then, the door to the balcony connected to the room opened, and another figure appeared.
It was Adrian, who was supposed to be under attack by the intruders.
"We made eye contact, didn't we?"
"..."
As Adrian tilted his glasses with a smile, Parmann and Damian bit their lips.
But not long after, cracks formed in Damian's expression, and he burst into laughter.
"They really think they've won, don't they?"
Then, just as Arcia had done, the two intruders' appearances shifted.
"No choice then. Let's go with Plan B. Gregory."
"Indeed. August."
A man who seemed to be darkness given human form, and a pierrot with a manic grin and eyes whose corners were stretched long, radiating madness from his very appearance.
That was the true form of Parmann and Damian.
"No one who has seen our true forms has ever lived to tell the tale. A pity, but hell shall descend upon this place today."
A declaration from the dark man.
Moreover, an explosive presence unlike anything before burst forth, and the man disguised as Damian summoned a blood-red spirit, ghostlike in nature.
One might expect Adrian and Arcia to be taken aback by the enemies' transformed appearances...
"Whoa, that's fucking cool. What do you think, Arcia?"
"Edgelord."
The two watched with expressions of amusement, as if viewing a movie.
Was this the composure of the strong?
Sadly, of all those who had ever shown such a demeanor, not a single one had survived their grasp.
"Gregory Hayden. August Knox."
"W-What?"
"I didn't know a group that only appeared in fairy tales actually existed. Right, Blue Moon?"
"..."
But Adrian's following words made the two, who had been riding high, flinch in shock.