【9】

Mireille and Noël were brought to a certain ruin in a deserted corner of the commoner district.

Both of them were tied up behind their backs and roughly thrown into the room.

To the limp and unconscious Mireille, Noel desperately continued calling her name.

“Mireille! Mireille, wake up. Wake up!!”

Noel was in a complete panic, appropriately agitated for her age.

“Shut up, you annoying brat. I’ll shut you up!”

One of the men who had abducted them grumbled and raised his hand to silence Noel.

A pink-haired woman emerged from the back room and intervened, “Hey, stop that!”

“If you lay a hand on that child, I won’t forgive you! She’s my precious Noel, you know.”

“…My apologies.”

With a displeased expression, the man reluctantly complied with the pink-haired woman.

“You two, please leave us alone. I have to have a very important conversation with Noel.”

In the dimly lit room, the pink-haired woman approached Noel with a sly smile.

To Noel, her twisted and sinister grin prompted an inaudible scream of terror.

(This woman is creepy! She’s dangerous!!)

Her sixth sense warned her of danger.

Looking down at the frightened Noel, the pink-haired woman spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice.

“Oh, poor Noel! You’re so scared… Were those guys really that frightening?”

(No, it’s you who’s scary…! Hiiii)

“Don’t be afraid anymore, okay? As long as I’m here, you’ll be safe. Poor thing, your hands are tied up too. I’ll untie them for you, okay?”

As the woman untied him, Noel asked in a trembling voice, “…W-who are you?”

“Oh dear! You can talk now, that’s helpful. I’m Isla. Your best friend!”

“B-best friend…? But I don’t know you…”

“That’s right. Our plans got messed up, and I couldn’t come to see you for a while! I’m really sorry, okay?”

Isla’s pink hair was messy, and her eyes were bloodshot. Talking in a high-pitched voice with her lips pulled up, she seemed nothing short of a monster.

(Oh…! Even without reading her mind, I can tell… this pink-haired woman, she’s dangerous!!)

For Noel, it was the greatest fear of her life.

Seeing Noel trembling with fear, Isla continued speaking affectionately.

“Noel, let’s be friends, okay? I’ve always wanted to see you so much. From now on, I’ll play with you a lot.”

“N-Noel doesn’t want to play…”

“Huh? You’re shy, huh? Let’s play together.”

As Noel hesitated and stepped back, Isla leaned in closer.

“Hey Noel. You can play various mini-games, right? Like rhythm games and races, there were over 50, right? I’ll play them all with you, so let’s raise our intimacy level to MAX!”

“W-what’s intimacy…?”

“It means getting along, silly! Once our intimacy is MAXed out, will you let me use ‘Time Rewind’? I want to redo my life.”

With a smile, Isla looked into Noel’s eyes, like a snake targeting its prey.

(Does this woman know about Noel’s cheat ability!? Why!? …But the goddess said that the time cheat is for ‘the most important person’ only!)

“N-Noel can’t use time cheats…”

“Don’t play dumb, you brat!”

With a twisted smile filled with hatred, Isla pushed Noel away.

“Ow!”

“While I’m being kind to you, you better listen to me! I’m sick of this crazy life! I want to restart this crappy game from the beginning and take the proper route! I don’t know why a mob character like you has a reset function, but that’s your only worth, isn’t it!?”

Isla looked down at Noel, who had fallen on her rear, with sadistic eyes.

“I’m the heroine of this world! You exist only for me! Hurry up and rewind time――aah!”

Isla’s voice cut off abruptly as she fell sideways.

“Mireille!?”

Mireille, who had regained consciousness, tackled Isla, causing her to fall. She then pinned Isla down and shouted towards Noël.

“Run, Noel!”

“Mireille, you should run too――”

“It’s impossible!”

Hearing the commotion, men in black outfits entered the room from the adjacent room.

“Leave me and run!”

“I won’t let you go, Noel. Catch that kid!”

One of the men in black reached out for Noël.

“Noel, run quickly!!”

“…Ugh.”

Just before being caught by the man, Noel shouted as if she had made up her mind.

“――’Sprint Cheat’!!”

As she shouted, Noel’s body dispersed into golden particles and dashed away. Like a swift horse, she broke through the door of the ruins and fled.

Isla, who was stunned, yelled hysterically at the men.

“What are you doing, you incompetent fools!! Chase after the kid quickly, if you let him escape, I won’t forgive you!”

The men snapped back to their senses. “If the kid exposes this place, it’ll disrupt our plans…” they muttered with venom as they chased after Noel.

While Isla cursed the incompetence of the men, she suddenly turned to Mireille, slapped her cheek, and kicked her.

“You again, Mireille! You’re always always always always getting in my way! Just who do you think you are, acting like a crazy villainess!? Why are you with Noel!?”

Even as Isla hit and kicked her, Mireille remained steadfast, her lips sealed in determination.

――At that moment.

“Isla, don’t have too much fun on your own. I have the right to punish Mireille too.”

From the back of the room, Judrich also appeared.

Judrich, who had become thin and had dark circles under his eyes, looked like a completely different person from before.

Isla glared irritably at Judrich as he approached with a macabre smile.

“What do you want, Judrich? Can’t you stay out of my way?”

“It’s ridiculous, Isla. The ‘Noel’ you were looking for turned out to be such a tiny child. And she easily escaped… Haha, it’s truly pathetic! You incompetent fool.”

“Shut up! It doesn’t matter; the people from the Empire of Jorn will bring her back soon enough!”

“But she hasn’t returned yet, has she? It’s hard to believe that the empire’s assassins would have trouble with a child. They might have caught her and killed her. Maybe she can’t come back because she can’t face you. That must be it, hahaha!”

“That’s not true! Noel is fast on her feet, that’s why it’s taking a little longer!!”

While hoping for Noel’s safety, Mireille tried to grasp the situation in her mind.

(Why did Judrich and Isla return to the capital? Are the ‘assassins from the Empire of Jorn’ referring to those men in black outfits? …There seem to be a few people still in the back room. Did the assassins from the Empire of Jorn team up with Judrich and the others? For what purpose…?)

Just as her thoughts were interrupted, a distant explosion echoed.

“What was that noise…?”

Mireille tensed up, and Judrich laughed with delight.

“Curious, aren’t you, Mireille? That was the sound of ‘Justice’s Hammer.’ I’ll teach my foolish father, who exiled me, a lesson. Extremists from the Empire of Jorn are now conducting acts of destruction throughout the capital!”

“What…!?”

Judrich’s lips curled with delight.

“A month ago, extremists from the empire of Jorn approached me, saying they wanted to ‘cooperate.’ They said, ‘Your Highness Judrich is the most suitable king for this empire.’ So, I decided to become their symbol. After they assassinate the king, queen, and second prince, I’ll become the true king of this country!”

**Noel was panting heavily as she stopped near the main thoroughfare of the capital.

She had been sprinting at full speed for about twenty minutes since escaping from the ruins where she had been held captive. The effect of the ‘Sprint Cheat’ had worn off, and she was gasping for breath.

The men were not chasing her.

It seemed like she had escaped.

“But… What should I do? I have to save Mireille.”

The surroundings were in chaos.

Explosions were occurring repeatedly throughout the capital, and flames could be seen rising from places like the Royal Opera House and the Chamber of Commerce.

Citizens were starting to evacuate under the guidance of soldiers, and no one stopped even when Noel tried to stop them.

(Everyone is in a panic; no one has the time to save Mireille…!)

Noel hoped for someone who would listen to her voice, someone who would definitely save Mireille.

And that person… was probably only one.

“…Let’s go back to the mansion! If it’s Mireld, he’ll definitely help!”

But which way was the mansion again…? Just as Noel was at a loss, a two-horse carriage coming from the other direction caught her eye. The coat of arms of the Gasstrak family was displayed on the side of the carriage.

Noel thought about stopping the carriage and blocking its path. She hurried ahead and stopped on the road, spreading her arms wide and shouting loudly.

“Stooop thaaaat caaaarriaaage――――!”

The carriage approached. The coachman looked alarmed. The sound of hooves approached, and Noel tightly closed her eyes――.

In times of emergency, it is the duty of those serving in the palace, regardless of civilian or military status, to gather immediately.

Mireld, of course, was no exception. He was on his way to the palace with increased guards.

“…What’s going on here?”

Glancing out of the carriage window, Mireld muttered in a low voice.

For the past few tens of minutes, sabotage by explosives has occurred in multiple locations within the capital.

He had received information that targets included the clock tower on Central Street, the Royal Opera House, the cathedral, and the exchange on Merchant Street.

(――The Royal Opera House is where Mireille went with Noel. Are Mireille and the others safe?)

He really wanted to abandon his duty to the castle and go look for Mireille and the others immediately, but suppressing that urge, Mireld ordered the knights of the Gasstark family to search for and protect Mireille and the others.

(What on earth is happening? While the scale of each destruction seems relatively small, what is the intent of the perpetrators? It seems more like a performance of sabotage rather than aiming to assassinate important people or citizens…)

Relying on scant information, as Mireld pondered, the carriage was suddenly jolted with a loud neigh of horses.

Immediately after the abrupt stop, the coachman’s voice of “Do you want to be run over, you brat, jumping out in front of the carriage like that?!” echoed.

A young voice, crying, shouted something back――this voice, Mireld knew well.

“Hurry, take Noel back to the mansion! I need to get help from Mireld…”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Mireille has been kidnapped! She’s being bullied by a creepy pink-haired woman!!”

――Mireille has been kidnapped?

Mireld swung open the carriage door, jumped out, and ran to Noel.

“Mireld?! You were inside the carriage!?”

“Noel, what happened!? Mireille was kidnapped…?”

With a contorted face and tears streaming down her eyes, Noel cried out.

“We were captured by some black guys and locked up in a rundown house! The pink lady was creepy, but Mireille helped Noel escape… Mireld, please, hurry and save Mireille!!”