Chương 264: The Rotten Corpse Of A Failed Concept

"You show some compelling evidence, but I must ask… What are you? Who are you? You clearly aren't a simple Vengeful Spirit. I have seen plenty of your kind. I have seen the Revenger of Noktronne with my own two eyes, and even he was nothing like you""As much as your assistance might be to my benefit, I do not see much reason why I should ally myself with you instead of allying myself to the knightess.

As far as I can see, you are both monsters" The dark spectre twitched, its body shuddering, and it seemed as though the ropes of dark crimson were the only thing keeping it from bursting. I SEE. YOU DO NOT TRUST ME. I UNDERSTAND, BUT WOULD YOU REALLY BE WILLING TO PUT ANY AMOUNT OF TRUST IN A HUMAN–BORN DEVIL?

"Listen. I am as old as dust, I've worked with all sorts of unsavoury characters throughout my life. A serial killer turned monster isn't all that crazy to me, you know? You have an alluring proposal, but let's be honest, a lot–And I mean A LOT–Of people can do the same thing you are offering me. Hell, I could do it myself" YOU ARE A PROBLEMATIC ONE, OLD MAGE. VERY WELL. WHY DO I NOT GO SPEAK TO MISTER KALERSKY CONCERNING YOUR 'AMBITIONS'?

"I find you a bit too confident for a measly ghost. You can barely stop yourself from falling apart. Do you really want to test how well you'll hold up against my spells? I took part in clearing the minions of the Revenger of Noktronne, and spent a lot of time doing some cleaning in the Bloody Fields of Lataniel the Suneater, you know? Blasting your kind apart is like second nature to me" I ADMIRE YOUR CONFIDENCE, MISTER JIMENI. I HOWEVER DO NOT BELIEVE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS.

"We'll never know if we don't try" The dark spectre tilted its head, and an iridescent white glow peered from the crack in its mask. The entire room went dark for a split second, and before the archmage even realised it, there were dozens of copies of the dark spectre all over the place, some of which were clinging to the walls and ceiling with their limbs bent the wrong way. I AM NOT ALONE. I AM MANY. The old mage sighed.

"If you are so strong, why don't you fight her yourself? The more power you show me, the more I feel like I don't want to fight her either, you know? The room went dark again, and the spectre was back to being alone. IT IS MERELY BECAUSE SPIRITS CAN NOT STAND UP TO HER. SHE FEASTS UPON GHOSTS AND SPECTRES. WHICH IS WHY I NEED ASSISTANCE. YOU MUST WEAKEN HER. SO THAT I CAN DRAG HER TO HELL, WHERE SHE BELONGS.

"Alright, alright… I hear you… Or I guess, I read you just fine, Buddy. I'll see what I can do, but I can't guarantee much. The education of the three Unwanted Presences is of dire importance, and she is doing an excellent job so far. Those brats love her–What I want to say is that I am against having her replaced, so you'll have to wait until she naturally steps out of the picture" I HAVE WAITED FOR DECADES. THESE TERMS ARE ACCEPTABLE.

"Right. Also, think about calming down on the capitalisation, and be more careful with your ghost powers. You are ruining my walls" The spectre turned its head, looking at a piece of wallpaper peeling off due to the corrosive nature of its paranormal manner of communication. Noted. The spirit disappeared without a trace. Johnpol Jimeni sighed. He found this ghost to be the most bizarre thing he had ever seen.

It simply won't answer any questions about its identity or nature, and seems obsessed with the Silent Knightess, whom it calls 'Mara' instead of 'Maya'. Whether this was a mistake or not, the archmage neither knew nor cared.

"Still… Two monsters infiltrated the House of Freedom? I know the security of this place is garbage, but how could we let this happen? We let one in through the damn front door and gave her a job, and this one just snuck in unopposed and roamed around without anyone noticing a damned thing. It seems that if an intruder's intention is not to get rid of our incompetent head of state.

They can just waltz in all they want" As if the world wanted to prove him wrong, someone banged against the door of his private quarters.

"Sir Jimeni! Someone has attempted to assassinate the Leader of the Republic!" The archmage barely managed to stop himself from smiling before flinging the door open and responding.

"Was the threat neutralised?"

"Yes, Sir!" Instead of replying with disappointment, he forced out a fake sigh of relief and asked to be led to Kalersky. The Leader of the Republic was currently in a separate, sealed-off room. He was waiting there until it was fully confirmed that all danger had been eliminated from the House of Freedom. Of course, with the archmage aware that two extremely dangerous entities were roaming the halls, it was laughable to think about.

If the dark spectre's boogeywoman wanted to, she could kill the poor fool every day of the week. Ganiel Kalersky was nought but a regular man. He was unlike any other leader of the continent. He had no tangible personal strength. Which was part of the reason Aesther was a laughing stock. The Leader of the Republic was simply weak in all meanings of the word. The safe room he was in only had a single entrance, and it was through another room. Inside of which the archmage ran into Tanaya Uolip.

"Miss Uolip, what a terrible event this was-""Did you hire this assassin or not?" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Are you suspecting me of trying to assassinate the Leader of the Republic? This is simply preposterous!"

"Jimeni. It's only the two of us here. I didn't know about this assassin, did you?"

"... No. Do you mean this was an independent action? As in, someone unaffiliated with any group just came in and tried to stab this idiot?"

"Basically, not stab though, the guy had an axe and charged at Kalersky while shouting: 'I'll split you in half like you slashed the price of firewood, you motherfucker!' Which is an understandable reason. The lumber industry isn't just dead, it's rotting right now""Come on, it isn't really reasonable to try to kill someone over firewood… Well, that's what Kalersky would say. Anyway, shouldn't we check on him?

He might have a heart attack from the shock of having seen a citizen with his own two eyes" A third person entered the room, but it wasn't someone either of the two was expecting.

"Huh… Hello, Miss Maya" There is apparently a shortage of guards. They told me to stand guard. Am I the strongest knight in this building? That's a bit worrying, I find. In the sense that I wonder if you'll truly be able to keep paying me, considering you can't afford guards for the most important place in the entire country.

"Don't worry, you'll get your payments without any problem" There was an awkward silence in the room, as no one actually made a move to go check on Ganiel Kalersky. Only the sound of chalk against a blackboard resounded. I couldn't help but hear that you two aren't big fans of Mister Leader.

"You heard us?" Refined knight senses and all that business. You guys want him dead? Uolip raised her hands.

"Not at all! We are just sharing some… Amicable grievances" Back from where I come from, this guy would already be rotting on a pike, you know? We call this 'justice', but we don't usually do this, because kings are actually pretty good. Probably why the whole continent has worked this way for thousands of years.

"Ahahah…"

"You are… You are very funny, Miss Maya" The archmage and prime minister glanced at one another as the knightess wrote something else. There's no need to pretend. How much will you pay me if I make him disappear right now?

"This is ridiculous, Miss Maya. As the Archmage of the Republic, I will-""We can negotiate a price pretty easily, but I must ask, what do you mean by 'disappear'? Is it an euphemism for killing, or will you really make him vanish?"

"Uolip!"

"What?! This is a good opportunity. I was thinking about killing him myself, honestly, but it seems like Miss Maya has a cleaner method available" The archmage grabbed his own head. Why was the knightess doing this all of a sudden? Mister Archmage, we'll need to talk later.

"Jimeni, cast a spell to isolate this space, will you?"

"This is utterly insane. Why would you believe her to do this? She might just go into this room and just tell him that we are treacherous snakes!"

"Treacherous snakes toward him, but heroes to Aesther as a whole" While they were talking, the knightess casually walked over to the door and stepped into the so-called 'safe room'. The voice of Ganiel Kalersky leaked out for a few brief moments, but quickly went away. The walls and doors of the safe room were too thick to allow sounds to escape, but the archmage and prime minister could have sworn that they felt the ground shake for a moment.

After a little while, the knight stepped back out, her blackboard in hand with words already written upon it. Done. Tanaya Uolip looked into the room herself, and there was indeed absolutely no one inside. Not a single trace of blood, nor a single trace of any struggle. It was truly like the Leader of the Republic had vanished into thin air.

"Splendid! I can just naturally get his position, and while I am doing it. I'll be able to move the pieces in place to get rid of the assembly and finally restore our glorious nation! I hear Rootriska is looking for allies. If we can be their friends, then we'll be able to avoid getting invaded by our neighbours. Those fuckers are scared of our enchanted artillery, but much like sharks, they're attracted to blood. They might try something if they realise we are destabilised""But anyway!

Miss Maya, you might not be Aestherian, but you are a real patriot for what you just did. I'll count you amongst my friends for the remnant of my life" No problem. I'll just be pretending to stand guard at the end of the hallway leading to this place now. The knightess casually exited the room. The archmage waited a few moments until he knew that she was away to speak.

"This woman is a cold-blooded killer""So are you, Jimeni""Touché… But you need to know that she is probably not a human""I don't mind beastfolks, demons, and whatever else""I mean, as in a legitimate monster""That's hard to believe. What is your proof of this?"

"A dark spectre told me. It wanted me to help drag her to Hell or whatever""To be honest with you, Jimeni, that is a terrible source of information""Urgh… I heard myself say it and knew I sounded crazy… More importantly, she couldn't have heard us outside this room. I had already cast a silencing spell, so unless she can casually ignore a spell of mine, she already knew what we wanted to do, and she just stepped in here with full confidence of what we would be talking about. Isn't this a bit concerning?"

"Alright, I'll give this one to you. That is suspicious, but it just tells me that she is perceptive and probably despised Kalersky. You can keep an eye on her, I am already keeping an eye on everyone in this building anyway…" The prime minister couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"... But don't bring the mood down! This fucker is dead! This is perhaps the greatest event to have ever occurred after the unfortunate dissolution of our monarchy. This should definitely be made into a national holiday, and we'll teach the children about the dangers of republics and democracies!" She cleared her throat.

"First, we need to act like we have no idea what happened. Let's come surging out of this room with confusion and worry on our faces about the fact that the Leader of the Republic is nowhere to be found""You'll need to stop shaking with excitement and smiling like a maniac first""Of course… That's why I couldn't kill him myself. I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from crying tears of joy–Actually, I can feel them coming right now, I'll just pass them off as shock. I am just a frail little lady after all.

Everyone will buy that I am just scared until this devilish republic is crushed!"

"I am starting to think that I should be more scared of you than the literal monster… Still, it is hard to believe that this just… Happened out of nowhere like this. I always thought it would take a storming of the House of Freedom to wrench power out of his hands""Good things happen to those who wait, Jimeni!

Anyway, hold me like I am genuinely distraught and can't walk on my own""You should have considered a career as an actress""It would have been my calling if I hadn't felt the burning passion of patriotism in my blood" The archmage hadn't realised that he had been so close to a lunatic for so long… She indeed had some incredible acting skills.