The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Everyone finished the tasks assigned to them by the mirage shortly before noon, more or less as Ravian had expected.

The newly appointed Head Servant, Mirai, summoned everyone to the servants’ dining room for a meal.

’She wants to get this over with quickly, doesn’t she?’ Ravian thought, recalling Mirai’s confident expression from earlier.

Her expression and manner of speaking reminded him somewhat of Lysandra, but Ravian had noticed something different between them...

Mirai seemed less sure of herself and, naturally, less talented than Lysandra. Ravian was certain there was a reason behind her current confidence, one that was relatively easy to guess; he only needed to confirm it.

By the time Ravian reached the servants’ dining room, the other eight had already arrived.

The room was not large compared to the rest of the palace, but it contained a long table that could seat twenty people. Bowls of soup, along with bread and meat, had been placed upon it, yet no one reached for any of the food.

Their spiritual bodies had no need for food, and they did not trust anything this Nightmare World offered them.

Garrick sat at the head of the table despite having no real right to do so, while Mirai chose the seat opposite him. She placed the Head Servant’s notebook in front of her, and Aldric kept the key register tucked beneath his arm. Sylvan, meanwhile, had chosen a seat from which he could see both the door and the two windows.

None of this escaped Ravian’s notice.

’Doesn’t this damned palace have an owner we can ask what the hell is going on here?’

Ravian thought as he watched those who were supposed to be servants sitting around the table as though they were nobles rather than servants.

He chose a seat in the middle, one that neither isolated him from the others nor placed him at the center of attention, then set the requested copy of the accounts in front of Mirai without sliding it directly toward her.

The corners of his mouth nearly curled upward, but he restrained the smile.

"The invoice review is complete. The requested copy is on the table," he announced aloud without addressing anyone in particular.

Aldric looked suspiciously at the paper, then at Ravian.

"Who was that addressed to?"

Ravian raised an eyebrow.

"It was a general announcement of the document’s existence," Ravian replied, this time undoubtedly addressing Aldric. "If Mirai picks it up and understands that it was prepared for her, the mirage may count the paper as communication between us even though I did not address her. There is no way to know how the rule will interpret it until we see the outcome," he explained simply, smiling at Mirai.

Then he quickly turned back to Aldric.

"And you just communicated with me, so I suggest you take it, since we have already communicated anyway," Ravian added sarcastically.

Old Aldric nearly choked, even though he should not have been capable of choking in his spiritual form.

However, the sheer stupidity of what he had done made it almost possible.

Moments earlier, he had refrained from taking the document because he did not want the act to be considered communication, only to follow that caution with a foolish question that prompted Ravian to answer him, meaning they had now communicated anyway.

The eyes of almost everyone seated around the table widened. They had only just realized how easily any one of them could have ended up in Aldric’s position.

Communication was far easier than they had imagined, and it was something humans were accustomed to doing almost without thought.

Ravian looked from one person to the next, studying their expressions with his usual calm smile on his face.

He was explaining the rules and warning them of the dangers. They ought to thank him for helping them, shouldn’t they?

Mirai did not appear genuinely frightened or shocked by Aldric’s blunder, yet she still did not touch the document.

"One of the mirage servants will take it to my office."

Sylvan gave a small, provocative smile and raised his hand to speak as though he were in school. "Even that may not work. If the meaning originated with him and was intended for you, then the servant is merely a means of delivery."

"And we will have to communicate anyway," Sylvan continued, looking around at everyone seated at the table. "If any of you is afraid, simply make sure the last person you communicate with before the black bell rings tonight is someone you trust, at least somewhat."

"That’s right," Aldric said, still looking irritated by what had happened but seizing the opportunity to communicate with someone other than Ravian, who had begun to seem somewhat frightening to him. "We should assume that the source of the meaning is the sender of the message, not the hand carrying it."

The first genuine benefit of the meeting had emerged. Each of them had discovered a different part of the rule through their respective duties, and piecing those parts together would give them a better defense.

At the same time, it would give Ravian a more precise understanding of the restrictions... the very restrictions he would use to kill them.

Mirai opened her notebook. "I recorded every individual order I gave this morning. I communicated with each of you at least once. Since then, Garrick has spoken with Bran at the gate, Elena has communicated with Kaiden and Talia in the kitchen, and Sylvan received a key from Aldric. Those are only the interactions I learned about through the work reports."

"That is why everyone needs to move in pairs," Garrick said.

Bran shook his head. "One partner could still kill the other under the rule if they were the killer and remained the last person their partner had communicated with when the black bell rang."

"But the others will always see them together, and then we will know who the killer is," Garrick insisted.

"That is a sacrifice, not a method of exposing the killer, Mr. Garrick," Ravian said, glancing at Garrick from the corner of his eye.

Garrick did not answer, but his expression grew sharper.

"Besides, seeing them together would not be sufficient evidence," Sylvan said. "Even if two people witnessed their conversation, that would give us grounds for an accusation, but it would not guarantee that the accusation was correct. The killer might communicate with the victim at the last moment, in which case we would lose one person during the night and another because of a false accusation."

Garrick clenched his jaw but could find no answer that refuted Sylvan’s argument.

"But you know..." Ravian suddenly said, his eyes widening in feigned realization.

Everyone turned toward him curiously.

"Garrick may have a point as well. Only one person will survive in the end anyway, even if we expose the killer, so what is wrong with sacrificing one of us?" Ravian asked, looking seriously at everyone seated around the table.

They all fell silent at his words.

All this time, they had been pretending to work together, yet inwardly, each person had been working for themselves under the guise of teamwork.

What Ravian had just said tore down the psychological wall they had erected for themselves—a wall that, once removed, exposed the true malice of human beings driven to desperation.

The moment when it became every man for himself.

Boom!

A clenched fist suddenly slammed down on the table, the impact echoing loudly through the spacious dining room.

Everyone turned to find that Mirai was the one who had struck the table, breathing heavily.

"Stop this discouraging talk, or we will all die and not even that one person will survive!" Mirai shouted at everyone, thereby establishing communication with them all.

Then she turned to Ravian.

"And you! Are you the killer?! Why would you say something like that when it could turn everyone against one another?!" Mirai shouted in Ravian’s face.

Ravian’s expression remained unchanged as he regarded Mirai as though she were a clown performing on a stage.

"Forgive me, Madam Head Servant. I merely spoke the truth. Or are you planning to sacrifice yourself for us here? I, for one, would not mind that," Ravian said coldly, never breaking eye contact with Mirai.

For the first time since the roles had been assigned, Mirai’s eyes trembled with uncertainty.

Ravian smiled at her silence.

"Do you see, Head Servant? There are no angels among us here, so do not pretend to be virtuous after acting so imperiously ever since the roles were assigned," Ravian said, pausing for a second before continuing. "In fact, the role you were given is the perfect role for the killer, since it allows them to communicate with everyone. Earlier, it seemed unfair for it to be eight against one, but if the killer holds the role of Head Servant and can communicate with everyone at any time, then this game is no longer unfair."

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