The Broken System Chose the Antagonist

After a few moments, they finally woke up.

"UAAHHH!" The woman instantly sat up, screaming with wide, panicked eyes. She glanced around frantically, visibly shaken, and spotted Roxy, which instantly put her at ease a little. "W-where am I? A-and how long was I out?"

"You’re in the medical ward. And you’ve been unconscious for a few hours," Roxy comfortingly replied. "It’s safe now, Linda; the girl from the LRM managed to rescue you in time—"

"L-LRM!?" Linda exclaimed in panic as her most recent memories flashed into her mind.

She hurriedly crawled back and pushed herself against the backrest of the bed. She then continued to glance around frantically, as if she was trying to look through the walls in search of Hilda.

"I-is she here?" She asked fearfully.

Roxy, visibly stunned and confused by Linda’s sudden reaction, nodded with a raised eyebrow.

"She’s not... Did something happen?" She inquired. "Did Elias do something to frighten you? If so, could you please tell me what you remember—"

"E-Elias?" Linda interrupted, puzzled. "H-he didn’t do anything to frighten me. Where’d you get him from?"

Her words caused Roxy to widen her eyes, taken aback by what she had heard. She glanced at Beatrice, hoping for answers, but found the girl was equally as confused.

She then turned back to Linda and, while still struggling to make sense of things, asked, "Wait, then—hold on, who was the last person you remember seeing then? And what happened for you all to fall unconscious?"

"W-what happened?" Linda gripped the sheets tightly and wasted no time answering. "It was her...! The woman from the LRM! After we split up, that woman suddenly came out of nowhere and ambushed us!"

Everyone in the room immediately let out a gasp, especially those who had closely interacted with Hilda. Roxy straightened her back with a look of disbelief, while Beatrice froze in place. They couldn’t believe what they had just heard!

Beatrice leaned forward and pressed on the matter. "Are you sure it was her, no doubt in your mind?" Without delay for a response, she added, "At the site, there was a corpse of a Predicament, covered in metal, like the one Elias walked around with! There were even signs of fighting around the scene!

"There’s no possible way you guys could’ve taken her on to leave that kind of mess. Our group tried and we were completely toyed with!"

Linda, who was frightened by Beatrice’s fervent demeanour to find out the truth, shielded her face with her hand as she stutteringly said, "I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! Predicament? Elias? Neither of the two was there when we were ambushed!

"One moment we were just walking around trying to find you, and in the next moment we felt like our bodies got hit with an electric shock!"

"No way..." Beatrice took a step back, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. She was certain that what she saw was a Predicament. Although it was burned completely black, it still had the rough shape of a Scoundrel; it also had a metal shell, like Elias’ one...

She then thought of the collapsing building. When she had finished listening to Hilda’s explanation and saw the Predicament she had burned to death, she had figured the cause of the building’s collapse to Elias’ doing to separate her group; to pick them off easier.

But could it be that the one behind the building’s collapse was actually Hilda?

’But what about that Predicament she killed?!’ Beatrice had no time to ponder that thought as she watched as Roxy sprinted out of the room with a furious look on her face. That was when she realised something.

’The eyes!’

...

’I knew something was up when she didn’t want to wait for them to wake up!’ Roxy scowled as she rushed down the corridor and quickly neared the storage room. The two guards who were standing by were shocked to find Roxy sprinting at them at full speed.

When she arrived in front of them, they straightened up and immediately asked what was wrong. But their concerned voices were immediately drowned out by Roxy’s.

"Did she come by here at all?! The girl from the LRM!"

"W-wha—huh? Y-yeah, she did—"

"What did she take!?"

Taken aback by Roxy’s sudden urgency, the two glanced at one another and tried to recall what it was Hilda had brought out.

"It was a hammer, right?"

"Yeah, apparently she broke hers when she pushed too much Vitality into it."

"Honestly, I didn’t even think that was possible. I thought Vitality is meant to strengthen stuff."

Watching as the two conversed, Roxy did her best to regain her composure before politely pushing her way through and entering the storage room.

She glanced around and noted how everything was still organised. If one were in her position, they would’ve believed Hilda had just politely put things back the way they were, after finding what she needed. But she wasn’t naive enough to think it was all to be polite.

She rummaged through storage and found the sacks that should be holding their eyes stashed in the corner, exactly where they should’ve been. They were still here and filled to the brim, just like how she had left them.

Roxy picked each one of them up and compared their weight to her memories. They felt the same, or extremely similar to when she last memorised their weight.

She eyed the sacks with a puzzled look in her eyes. ’Nothing seems to have changed... did she really just come in here for a hammer?’

The guards outside didn’t see her bring out anything else... Could it really be true?

With suspicion still in her Heart, she opened one of the sacks and...

"No... No, NO!"

She was immediately met with the sight of items that weren’t what she was expecting.

With panic in her eyes, she immediately began looking through all the sacks. When there were no eyes to be seen, she tore through the entirety of the storage with a look of denial — hoping to find something.

And only after she had turned the entire room upside down did she come to terms with what happened. They were robbed. Again.

"FUCKING DAMNIT!" Roxy cursed out, clawing at the sides of her head, like she wanted to rip off her hair. She couldn’t believe this was happening!

’It’s my fault for trying a damn LRM officer,’ She growled. She had predicted that, by now, Hilda must’ve crossed a considerable distance away from them. It’ll be impossible to catch up to her.

Whilst trying to calm down, Roxy couldn’t help but recall a key detail that Hilda had stated earlier. ’Wasn’t she currently heading over to that guy’s warehouse to meet up with someone?’

She brooded on this.

’With how slimy that woman is, this is mostly a trap of some kind. But...’

If they were to just stay here without any eyes until the end of the exam, they would’ve lost all kinds of advantages that could help them stand out in the academy. And the fact that Hilda had to steal from them now, of all days, was infuriating!

If she had robbed them just a day earlier, they would’ve been able to somewhat recover, as Predicaments were still lingering. But from what Beatrice had reported, not a single Predicament had shown themselves. Not a single one!

’It must be all part of her doing...!’ Roxy gnashed her teeth.

Without any reconsideration that this could be a trap, she bursted out of the storage room. And when she did, she immediately gave out an order:

"EVERYONE, PACK YOUR THINGS! WE’RE MOVING TO THAT GUY’S WAREHOUSE!"

’If there’s no Predicaments outside, then a large movement like this should be fine.’ She clenched her fists. She wasn’t sure how Hilda managed to steal their eyes, but that didn’t matter!

’No matter what, we must get back our eyes!’

...

"Achoo!" Hilda let out a loud sneeze before rubbing her nose in confusion. ’Is someone thinking about me?’

She calmly walked down a street with her arms folded behind her back, like a regal king, having placed a few miles between her and the weathered fortress.

She then thought, with slight curiosity, ’I wonder if they figured out what happened yet...’ Obviously referring to Roxy’s group. It had been several minutes now, after all.

’Meh, as long as they figure it out soon, it doesn’t matter.’ For she was now done with phase three of her plan. ’All that’s left is phase 4: Protection. And phase 5: Gathering.’

At that moment, Hilda fell into a daydream while walking, imagining how the rest of her plan would play out.

Splat.

"Oop. Well, then~ this is quite the sight."

With a sudden wet sound resounding beneath the soles of her black, hard leather boots, she woke up from her daydream and was met with the sight of a crimson street of blood.

Hilda grinned. "I guess I’m getting closer to my destination~..."

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