Chapter 545: Face

“They actually... ran?”

Feeling the spatial ripples in front of him that had yet to subside, Coton still found it hard to believe.

That stern, rigid, dead-serious Nell who always rushed to the front whenever there was danger... had actually chosen to run away just like that?

What kind of joke was this—had the Nell he’d known for the past ten years all been some bastard’s act?

“Captain Coton, the spatial ripples are still present. We should be able to pinpoint where they escaped to. Should we pursue?”

“Pursue? Pursue what?”

Coton glared viciously at that idiot subordinate. “Don’t forget what we came here to do! It’s just as well he ran. No one knows that bastard’s strength better than I do. If he really went all out, even if he couldn’t beat us, we’d still lose at least some men, and that would be nothing but harmful for our plan! For all we know, he deliberately put on that act just to lure us into chasing him!”

“We’ll settle that score with him if we get the chance later. For now, we handle our proper business first.”

“Yes, sir!”

The men who had spread out to encircle the area gathered together again. Coton looked at the remaining nine people total, counting himself, stroked his chin, and fell into thought.

Aside from himself, the personnel he had brought hadn’t actually taken much damage, and even he, despite being hit by a sneak attack, still had decent combat strength.

Mages might have short health bars, but the upside of a short health bar was quick recovery. His external injuries from just now had already been healed under the effect of several healing magic scrolls in a row; the only slightly troublesome thing was the trace of Nell’s mana left inside his body.

But just that bit of mana wasn’t nearly enough to kick up any real storm.

The only problem was... that bastard Sineel’s desperate strike had completely shattered their flawless plan.

Never mind the array that had been totally destroyed—after all the commotion that had just taken place here, if the eldest prince had even half a brain, he absolutely would not pass through this spot again.

“Looks like we’ll have to change tactics.”

“Oh? Change to what tactics?”

“Lying in ambush here is already impossible. We have to take the initiative.”

Coton took out his gold pocket watch and glanced at it. “At the very least, we need to obtain more detailed intel from the Inner Council within the expected time frame. They definitely have people watching the eldest prince.”

“Mhm, mhm. The Inner Council, the eldest prince... those are some names that can scare a man to death. Looks like you’re aiming pretty high, Coton.”

“Of course. My goal is—”

Coton’s body went rigid. Thinking he was responding to a “subordinate’s” words, he suddenly broke off mid-sentence.

Perhaps under the influence of some invisible force, even someone as habitually cautious as he was only now realized, after they’d already exchanged several lines...

That the person talking to him had a voice that sounded a bit familiar.

But... that voice did not belong to any subordinate he knew. Rather, it was...

“V–Vice Corps Commander?”

It took Coton tremendous effort to lift his head. As his field of view slowly rose, the figure that had somehow appeared here was reflected in his pupils along with endless terror.

She was a noblewoman of around thirty, with delicate features and a gentle, graceful air. Even the wide platinum-length uniform robe could not conceal the maturity and lush fullness of her figure.

The noblewoman did not look frightening. On the contrary, she carried a sense of approachable warmth. But as he looked at her, Coton’s expression instantly twisted into terror, as if he were staring at a demon from hell.

“It’s Corps Commander.”

The noblewoman smiled as she spoke.

“Don’t you know, Coton? Just recently, that old fossil handed over the position of Corps Commander to me. So, you need to call me Corps Commander.”

“C–Corps Commander.”

“Mhm, good boy.”

Like a playful young girl, the noblewoman patted Coton’s head. Coton let her rudely muss his hair into a chicken nest without daring to show a hint of resistance.

“So then, what are you all doing out here in a place like this in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”

The noblewoman looked around. Her gaze was clearly very gentle, yet anyone her eyes swept past felt an immense terror. A few of the more timid ones couldn’t hold up at all; their legs went weak and they collapsed to the ground, trembling.

“N–Nothing, we weren’t doing anything. I was just bringing them out for some night training, that’s all. Yes, training.”

“And the eldest prince you mentioned just now, and the Inner Council...”

“...A target! Yes, that’s it, a hypothetical protection target. Training, of course, needs a target to be effective.”

“So it was training. How diligent of you. Truly worthy of Coton, the one with the brightest prospects of becoming the next Vice Corps Commander.” The noblewoman nodded, sounding sincerely full of praise.

“Y–You flatter me.”

Wiping at the cold sweat pouring down his forehead, Coton forced his heartbeat to steady and bowed his head to ask,

“May I ask what brings you here to a place like the Lower District in the middle of the night, Corps Commander? To condescend to personally come in person like this...”

“It’s really nothing that big. I just received a certain someone’s report, that’s all.”

“Re... report?”

“Yes. A signed report. The informant is that vice-captain of yours, Nell. I’ve heard of his name as well. Supposedly he’s stern and inflexible, but serious about his work. I figured that when someone like that files a report, it’s probably not without cause. So I came to take a look. After all, I just took office—it only makes sense to do something.”

The noblewoman produced a letter from who knew where and used it to fan herself, as if feeling the restlessness of this spring night.

“So, about what’s ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) described in this report—some members of the Royal Mage Corps acting without authorization, scheming in the Lower District to carry out some highly irreverent conspiracy—Coton, do you have any idea what that might be referring to?”

Still smiling, the noblewoman looked at Coton.

The whispering flap of the envelope in the air sounded especially clear in the silent night.

As clear as the rambling before death.

“Heh, hahahaha...”

The next instant, a mad laugh shattered the stillness.

“Nell. Oh, Nell, you bastard, I actually, I actually...”

Coton, who had been silent until now, suddenly snapped his head up. The submissiveness from just moments ago vanished from his face, replaced by the madness of a man driven to the end of his rope.

“What bullshit Corps Commander, **, go to hell!”

Mana surged. The air boomed and trembled. A massive array instantly unfurled behind Coton. With skilled yet deranged chanting, he unleashed destructive prismatic light in a sweeping blast, heedless of how close it was—more than enough to engulf himself as well...

And then, it dispersed.

Like a gust of noise in the wind, it dispersed.

Coton stood frozen in place, staring blankly as the noblewoman casually closed her fingers around empty air, completely suppressing every last trace of raging mana in the surroundings.

His move hadn’t even gotten off the ground before it was strangled to death in the bud.

“So you... have already broken through to Truth-Rank?” Coton’s lips trembled. In that moment, he didn’t even have the courage to try circulating his mana again.

“Isn’t that obvious, Coton? If I didn’t have sufficient strength and enough depth in magic, do you think the position of Royal Mage Corps Commander is something you can get just by playing little clever tricks?”

The noblewoman’s lips curved in a mocking arc. She patted Coton lightly on the shoulder and, in an instant, stripped away all control he had over his own body.

“Besides, you don’t even have little clever tricks. You’re nothing but a complete idiot.”

......

......

“One, two, three... Mhm, still missing two.”

The noblewoman counted on her fingers as she looked over the nine people on the ground trussed up like rice dumplings, bound tight with iron chains. Once she finished, she couldn’t help showing a troubled expression.

“Should we drag them back?”

At some point, another figure appeared beside the noblewoman.

“After all, those two are also traitors to the Corps.”

“Traitors, huh... Honestly, with how good the Corps’ benefits are, why do people keep choosing such a stupid path?”

Glancing in the direction where a faint hint of spatial ripple still lingered, the noblewoman let out a sigh.

“Forget it. Let’s just call it giving someone some face.”

“Face? Duke Campbell’s?”

“...Why would you think I’m doing it for that muscle-brained brute whose head is stuffed full of brawn, hmm? Shadow, do you really not know the kind of person I hate most in this life is those brainless meatheads?”

“N–No... I just heard that back when you were a student...”

As if realizing something, the figure immediately shut up.

“You’re overthinking it. I’m only giving a bit of face to cute little Celicia.”

The noblewoman turned her head back and withdrew the incomparably kind smile from her face.

“After all, as Celicia’s first magic teacher, I can’t very well go out of my way to make things hard for her little fiancé, can I? Mm... even though just looking at that little fiancé of hers—that playboy face of his—makes me want to tear it to shreds...”

“...”