The color drained from Carl’s face, which had momentarily regained some vitality. This was the first time I had shown such raw emotion and gotten angry. Because I had always tried to smooth things over with an appropriate smile.
Perhaps that’s why it was more shocking—Carl shut his mouth tight and couldn’t even bring himself to look at me. He was like a young child being scolded by a parent.
“If you talk like that in the future, know that it won’t end with just words like this.”
I had absolutely no way to beat him with force. But force wasn’t only about physical strength. As if understanding the meaning of my words, Carl’s face went deathly pale.
“I…… just…….”
“Speak properly, Carl. You’re not a child, so why are you talking like that?”
He lowered his head deeply and bit his lips tightly. Hekkarkel passed by such a Carl and embraced me again. At his behavior of flaunting like showing off peacock feathers, Carl’s expression contorted like a demon.
“I, I just…… I only did it because I was worried about you.”
Carl’s words came through more clearly than before, with emphasis. But they were words I couldn’t understand.
“Why would you worry about me?”
“I…….”
“No, I’m really asking because I’m curious. We’re not even close.”
Carl should normally hate me. I had taken the position of Rose’s successor that he had so desired.
Carl was someone to whom ordering others around and standing at the center suited so well. But now he was just staying as an ordinary senior organization member. Those who had supported him and been by his side left him, saying he was like a kite with a broken string. In other words, it was as if Carl had lost everything because of me.
For such a person to worry about me, someone he wasn’t even close to—I simply couldn’t understand it.
“Do you…… hate me that much?”
Carl asked in a voice that seemed about to die out.
I didn’t hate Carl. I just didn’t like him either. It was true that Hekkarkel and I had suffered because of his schemes. However, that was one part of an interesting novel’s content. Since he had given me entertainment, there was no reason to hate him.
But now Carl was a character who was no longer interesting to me. I didn’t feel the need to expend any more mental energy on such a character.
Before I could speak my mind, Hekkarkel answered instead, as if grinding his teeth.
“Then why should Master like you? Have you forgotten what you did? Are you that stupid?”
His words, holding black poison in his mouth, were sharp and harsh. Though he was speaking in my place, it was no different from shooting out his own emotions. He hadn’t forgotten that Carl had tried to sell him as a slave. That kind of thing would be impossible to forget even if one tried.
Carl also seemed unable to refute anything since he knew what he had done. No, even if he wanted to refute, he had no choice but to shut his mouth since I was glaring at him.
“If you’re only going to say such hypocritical words, get lost. Master can’t rest.”
In the end, Carl stood there for a long while like a wife turned to stone waiting for her husband, unable to give any answer, before leaving the room. His face was a mess of rage and despair.
I was amazed that Carl had fallen to that level without my knowledge, but soon that feeling subsided. Because I had already lost interest, I felt I didn’t need to care about whatever he did.
Thus we became just the two of us again.
“Master…….”
It was a sweet voice that seemed like my body would melt away. But there was a more important question than melting into that right now. I gently grasped Hekkarkel’s hand and asked.
“Are you going to keep calling me that from now on? Now that it’s come to this, don’t you plan to call me by my name? We’re now…….”
Friends, right? ……Friends? Is this friendship? What do we call this relationship?
I fell into confusion for a moment and organized my thoughts. Now Hekkarkel had become a unique existence to me. The only existence I recognized in this world, and like me, a living being. The word “friend” was too light to define it. Then partner? Companion? What do we call our relationship?
Hekkarkel smiled gently at me, who had fallen into confusion, and kissed my cheek.
“Now?”
At the kiss, my face turned bright red. When Belly had shown me affection before, I hadn’t been this embarrassed. Because it was just a pet’s expression of affection.
But now he, Hekkarkel…… wasn’t a pet. His actions now approached me differently.
“Y-you…….”
“What relationship are we now? Master and pet? Friends?”
“I don’t know…….”
Hekkarkel smiled affectionately while looking at me answering stupidly. That face held the satisfied emotion of a successful hunt. His green pupils were vividly heated. Like a wildfire blazing, it was spreading even to me.
“I don’t know…….”
In the end, I muttered the same words. Hekkarkel hugged me tightly and whispered in my ear.
“It’s okay not to know. Because Jack is my eternal master.”
“……You’re really not going to fix calling me that?”
“Of course. Because Master is Master.”
As I pouted my lips, he whispered again. It was a hazy voice like a dreaming person.
“Because you’re the master of my true name.”
* * *
Master stayed in my arms like that for a long while before falling asleep. It must be because of the aftermath of using Persona and the fatigue from today’s incident. His weight had definitely decreased compared to before coming to Connubium, making him light as a sheet of paper. I furrowed my brow in anxiety.
Still, since I had made the incident explode this big, the novel would surely progress rapidly as if riding the current. If it’s that much, Master would be satisfied too.
Anyway, washing Master was the priority right now. Jay had many days recently when he couldn’t even wash, perhaps from being tired. I couldn’t leave Master, who had dust all over him from working all day, neglected.
“I should wash you clean.”
Humming a tune, I entered the narrow bathroom prepared in the room while holding Master.
Since the professors at this school were extremely individualistic, something like the communal bathroom of the dormitory where I lived as a child was something they couldn’t even dream of. In the first place, since they were originally of noble status, they clearly detested such things.
Thanks to that, it was good to be able to use such facilities without using magic. Even if it was Jay Doe’s appearance, if I showed this body to others, there would have been not just one dead person but several.
I filled the bathtub with steaming water and slowly undressed Master. It was a sensual touch that would make anyone who saw it blush red. But there was no one here now. Even Master was sleeping soundly.
I didn’t forget to lightly kiss the freckles dotted on the skin. If I didn’t do even this much, I probably would have already cooked to death in desire.
“……Beautiful.”
Like a molt, all the clothes were removed and Master’s skin was revealed on the outside. Ordinary skin that was neither white nor dark. The body with quite a few freckles didn’t meet the conditions of a beauty that many people depicted. However, to my eyes, it was a delicacy and treasure that wouldn’t exist again in the world.
Among them, what I liked most was the large tattoo engraved on the lower abdomen. The trace of another’s touch. The trace of Master directly interfering with the ‘novel.’
At first, I didn’t like that tattoo. However, as Master directly interfered with the story, Persona was created. Persona was the kind of ability that harmed Master’s body. But it gave me an opportunity.
He had reached the extreme of emotion and was being swallowed by solitude. He always laughed ambiguously, but I could see it clearly. So that was a symbol of opportunity for me.
“The spider is…… hiding treasure…….”
I hummed a song while carefully wiping Master’s body. It was a singing ability that Master would have laughed at as terrible if he heard it, but right now I was so happy I wanted to even dance.
“Ah.”
The pleasant mood was brief. An incomplete, half-drawn tattoo appeared on Master’s arm. It was something normally hidden by my power. This tattoo had that murderer bastard’s mana injected into it. The spider tattoo didn’t have mana injected, but this one was different.
“Annoying bastard…….”
I raised my mana and blocked the madman’s tracking. The tattoo disappeared again in an instant at my touch. Seeing him chase intermittently like this even though his memory must not be intact made me sick of it. It was annoying that I couldn’t kill him for fear Master might look for him again.
Anyway, I was satisfied now that the tattoo disappeared and smooth skin was revealed again.
“There isn’t much time left, Master.”
* * *
Even after several days passed, there was no sign of the emergency state at Connubium subsiding. It was inevitable since one professor had died horribly. It was a bit funny for them to show such a reaction when they killed students without any guilt, saying they were abusing and disposing of them.
The professors rushed around trying to catch the culprit, but no evidence came out, and the more that happened, the sharper the atmosphere became.
“Why did he come to me?”
Jay’s complexion hardened at Carl’s reaction.
The side effects of Persona invaded my body moment by moment. Jay couldn’t escape from it either. Since I knew the reason my body condition was worsening, I didn’t need medicine, but Jay was different. He had no choice but to go to the infirmary in the end.
Carl was nothing but cold, perhaps because of the previous argument. No, thinking about it, that was exactly the behavior Carl should have taken. Because it was natural for an outside professor to receive such treatment. Moreover, it was natural to discriminate more because of that bizarre incident.
“But, cough. Cough.”
But Jay only felt wronged. Because he was truly innocent and hadn’t even fought with Carl. He was a patient suffering from inexplicable pain.
Carl looked at such a Jay and laughed cynically before turning his back. He even briefly showed betrayal. At that pitiful appearance, I inwardly scoffed.
