Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Lunar Eclipse (1)

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I finally stepped in.

Facing the soldiers lined up side by side, I gave the black scythe a light swing.

"Activate. Thorns."

Slaaash!

In an instant, Wiggles split into dozens of branches and shredded the cards apart.

The Nightmare residue seemed to linger and squirm for a moment, then lost strength and quietly scattered away.

Dusting off my sleeve, I said, "As expected... once it goes over ten cards, control gets difficult."

"What is there to be sorry about? It's only your third day of training. You're handling it very well already."

"I... see..."

Even after I told her it was fine, Alice still looked downcast.

I gave her a small, sympathetic smile.

'This wasn't a power anyone could master in a day or two.'

While the Class E students each trained on their own paths, Alice trained one on one with me to control the Nightmare.

In Alice's case, her ability could not be allowed to leak out, so we trained deep in a quiet forest away from people.

She tried controlling the Nightmare freely to get a feel for it, and if she showed any sign of losing control, I stepped in and cleaned it up.

It was also the process I had promised her before, taming the Nightmare.

I lightly tidied up the area around us.

"Should we end training here for today?"

"Ah, yes..."

"Good work today."

The girl nodded.

Then we walked side by side toward the dorms.

With Alice strangely deflated beside me, I edged closer and asked, "How have you been lately? Still having nightmares at night?"

"N-no... after you fixed it for me, Viktor-nim... not yet..."

"That's a relief."

"Th-thank you..."

"I didn't bring it up to fish for praise, though."

Hehe.

A soft laugh slipped out.

I raised my hand and gently stroked her black hair.

"Miss Alice, you're doing more than fine. You don't need to panic."

"......"

"Really. You're doing well, and you'll keep doing well."

"...I also want to help you, Viktor-nim."

Alice murmured without confidence.

Just like during her last rampage, and just like now with me supervising her training.

It seemed to bother her that she kept receiving help from me.

"Viktor-nim is so s-strong... so if I want to help at all, I felt like I had to do s-something..."

That was honestly sweet.

I stroked the fidgeting girl with even more affection.

"You're already enough, Miss Alice."

You're basically a confirmed winning ticket already.

A complete jackpot.

"As long as you keep living this earnestly, that's enough."

"You keep saying things like that..."

Alice pressed her lips together like her strength was draining away.

Heat slowly spread across her pale cheeks.

Was she really that frustrated about not being able to help me?

I tilted my head, then thought of something and grinned.

"If it bothers you that much."

"......?"

"There is one thing I'd like your help with."

"Something you want my help with...? Me...? Wh-what is it? I'll do it! I want to!"

She must have been seriously worried about it, because she reacted desperately to even that casual line.

I calmed Alice down, then continued.

"It's nothing much. I need to go somewhere tonight."

"At night...?"

"I was wondering if you could come with me."

The girl's eyes sparkled.

It was about time to pull her into our organization too.

A global secret suppression group that protected peace and safety across the continent.

"By any chance... have you heard of the Slayers?"

I asked while fiddling with the new black mask I had prepared inside my robe.

***

After that.

About half a day passed, and night came.

As always, I slipped out of the academy and walked.

"Hmm-hmm."

By now it was a routine I knew by heart.

Using the map-clip bug, I moved to an empty lot far from the academy.

"Viktor."

"Ah... Princess."

Walking beside me, as usual now, was the Princess.

In the gloomy pre-dawn dark, moonlight filtered through clouds and made her silver hair shine.

A red mask covered her face.

"Where are we going this time?"

"As always, we're moving to protect the world's love and peace."

"I see."

The Princess nodded seriously even at my nonsense.

When I reached out and patted her head, she quietly accepted my touch.

Right. Carmilla was endlessly generous whenever it concerned me, but...

"...Viktor."

"Yes, Princess."

"Why is that child accompanying us?"

Right now, she clearly sounded sulky.

Where her finger pointed, a black-haired girl stood stiffly.

It was Alice.

"She's a new Slayers member. How about codename Unnion?"

"Did I not ask why you brought that child with us?"

"I asked for her help. I asked if she could come with us."

"Hmm..."

"You met the Princess last time too, remember? I thought this was perfect."

"Mmm..."

Carmilla let out a low hum.

A timid finger kept poking my side.

"Help...? Was I not enough for you?"

"How could that be. It's just that what we're handling this time is large in scale, so I thought extra hands would help."

"Hmm..."

"Also, this is exactly the right field for Miss Alice. I called her so she could train and build real field experience."

"..."

Was she bothered that I had found another partner?

Carmilla clearly did not like Alice.

She had always been quite possessive in this area.

Still, since I was the one who called Alice, it looked like she couldn't bring herself to scold her to her face.

"Viktor..."

The Princess pouted and whispered in my ear.

"Viktor is my servant alone. Even if other girls flutter around you, you must not fall head over heels for them..."

"You know I'm not that kind of person."

"Of course... but still..."

Carmilla sounded uncertain. I understood that feeling too.

In a single day, she had lost her family, her friends, and her kingdom.

With me as almost her only remaining bond, she seemed to cling hard to relationships.

I reassured her gently.

"If I'm not by your side, Princess, where else would I stay?"

"..."

"This outing is truly important, so please put aside your anger."

"...When did I ever say I was angry? I only had a question, so I asked."

"Hehe, of course."

Only then did she seem to cool down and step back.

I spoke to the two at my sides.

"Then... Sir Manre, Sir Unnion. Shall we go?"

Deputy Commander Garulik.

Member Manre.

Member Unnion.

They were the elite of a global secret organization.

"That aside... what are we out here for this time?"

The Princess peeked out with a question.

I tapped my mask and answered.

"It's about time."

The New Kingdom.

The peace pact between humans and vampires would break, and they would begin issuing full declarations of war.

Starting from this incident, signs of war would begin spreading across the whole continent.

Humans would probably realize too that vampires were no longer allies.

"The spark of war."

Red Night.

The root incident behind it.

If we left it alone, the casualties would be massive.

"We'll jump into the center of it and hold the casualties to a minimum."

Come to think of it.

"Princess... you might see a somewhat familiar face there."

"A familiar face? For me...?"

"You'll know when we get there."

I answered while staring at the status window floating in front of me.

[Main Quest]

-Title : The Water Knows the Answer!

-Content : Secure the New Kingdom vampire 'Jersian.' Subdue him through various means of persuasion.

-Failure Penalty : Acceleration of the Fourth Calamity, 'Red Night.'

-Success Reward : ???

[Time Limit:129 days]

Jersian.

The key figure behind this Lunar Eclipse incident.

At the same time, he was one of the close aides who betrayed the Blandir Dynasty.

For Carmilla's personal revenge too, this was a crucial turning point.

"Hundreds of victims... I will never let that happen."

My robe flared as I walked ahead.

At some point, a brightly glowing Absolute Balloon Sword was already in my hand.

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[Status Window]

Name : Viktor

Title : Saint

Items Equipped : Evil God's Mask, Evil God's Robe

Active Set Effect : The World as ■■■ Sees It.

.

.

[Saint]

-> Merit Points accumulate in proportion to the lives you save.

-> Merit Points can be used to improve the user's base stats.

(This title's special ability takes precedence over all other system restrictions.)

------

Colorful light brightened the area around us.

I was smiling behind my mask.

"We save them all."

All right then.

Let's go farm some Saint points.

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