NOVEL WEB Chapter 12
Aila was smiling brightly, seemingly enjoying the current situation.
“I’m offering indefinite no-interest loans, but I doubt that person over there is.”
Even if I emptied my wallet right now, it would still be a pathetic amount that wouldn’t even cover part of the surgery cost.
“Do you want to write a new loan agreement?”
“No, you said it’s no-interest indefinitely, right?”
“Yeah.”
I added one more digit to the amount I had just written down in the loan agreement and showed it to Aila.
“Give it to me now.”
“You’d have to work under me for at least 50 years to pay that off.”
“By that logic, it seems like the annual income is quite substantial, doesn’t it?”
“I said ‘at least.’ Are you planning to live without any living expenses?”
Aila claimed that it would take at least 100 years to repay the amount I had just written on the loan agreement.
“Stop being stubborn and sign this again.”
Aila shoved a new document toward me.
It had the exact amount requested by the person wearing the mask listed, along with Aila’s expenses.
“I’ll say it again, it’s no-interest indefinitely.”
The loan agreement Aila had just handed me was much more reasonable.
My hastily concocted loan agreement was essentially nonsensical.
In the end, I accepted the new document Aila handed me to sign.
“It has additional terms.”
“Read it thoroughly before signing.”
After looking over the content, I stared at Aila in disbelief.
“Do you know what kind of ordeal we have been through?”
“I know. But that was the human Academy.”
“Are you saying this place is different?”
“I’m your official guardian. You can ask Solche or Alium about my credibility.”
The newly added condition was that Aila must enroll in the Academy she specified.
Now, the Academy felt tiringly redundant.
Ultimately, this document was like wearing shackles required by the Academy of the Kingdom of Tholis.
“Are you going to do it or not?”
“Isn’t there another way…?”
From the atmosphere, it seemed there was no choice but to sign this document.
With a trembling heart, I composed myself and signed the document.
As soon as I completed the signature, the document emitted a bright light, and another identical page appeared.
“You can take this money.”
Aila pulled out a large bag from under the desk and handed it to the masked figure.
“Now then, shall we start the debt collection?”
“Excuse me?”
“Come here.”
Aila stroked my hair a few times before pulling out a comb and scissors.
“W-why is this debt collection?”
“Clean and pretty is good, isn’t it?”
Aila lightly tidied up the hair that had been tangled due to lack of proper grooming.
She placed a mirror on the desk and showed me my tidied-up appearance.
“How is it? Just a little tidying up made it look neat, didn’t it?”
“It does. Thank you.”
“You’re surprisingly polite, aren’t you?”
I could express my gratitude without hesitation.
I approached the window and gazed at the surrounding scenery.
The desolate city was filled with colorful lights, yet it seemed lifeless.
“Is this your hideout?”
“We’re temporarily borrowing it. The JS Group wants to maintain good relations with us, or rather the Empire.”
If they have been dealing with us for 300 years, they have probably become a massive conglomerate by now.
Before I knew it, Aila was standing next to me, gazing at the city together.
After passing through the Kingdom of Adelen, the next territory was that of the Latnia Empire.
There, armed conflict would certainly ensue, as Alium mentioned.
“I still don’t know. Should I trust you?”
“You’re quite a worrywart for someone young, aren’t you?”
I had never unconditionally trusted anyone in my life.
The JS Group was no exception.
Had I accepted the proposal to work together back then, I might have had descendants within the JS Group by now.
But I chose to take a stable job instead of making a risky decision.
I lived a mundane and ordinary life.
Even when I wanted to turn away, life was throwing circumstances at me that I couldn’t escape from.
I had to remain trapped, and I had to flee. Right now, I was being pursued.
“I didn’t know it could be so frustrating to be unable to do anything.”
“Fleeing from a strong opponent is not shameful. You need to survive and gather strength to defeat them.”
Looking out this window strangely made me want to open up my feelings.
I turned away from the window and declared, “I should head back now.”
“Wait a minute.”
Aila called me to stop and began rummaging through her desk drawers.
“Take this.”
In her hand were a small ring and a necklace.
“I can’t accept this.”
At a glance, it was clear that the jewelry had a quite expensive gem attached.
“You’ll need it, so take it.”
“Is this for free?”
“I’m not asking for money.”
Only then did I dismiss my doubts and took the ring and necklace from Aila’s hand.
“You should know how to use them before you leave.”
“The usage?”
“Yeah. They aren’t just decorations.”
Aila led me out of the room while explaining how to use the ring and necklace.
“Hmm-hmm~”
Aila walked along, almost humming a tune, seemingly in a good mood.
The place we arrived at, led by Aila’s hand, was the basement floor where Jema had undergone surgery.
The room in the basement was cleaned up neatly.
There was no trace of the surgery that had taken place here.
“Now, let’s start with the necklace.”
Following Aila’s instructions, I put on the necklace and infused it with mana.
The necklace vibrated as it greedily absorbed my mana.
“That necklace is enchanted with a defensive spell.”
When I gave Aila a puzzled look, she drew her sword to demonstrate.
“Um, you have to be careful, right?”
“If I’m going to do it, I’ll go all out!”
As Aila’s sword swung down in a sweeping motion in front of me, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Clang!
A clear metallic sound rang out, and I slowly opened my eyes.
A translucent barrier had blocked Aila’s sword.
I managed to block the subsequent series of attacks without much difficulty, but ultimately, the barrier shattered under the final thrust.
“Did you see?”
“It broke, didn’t it?”
“Since it blocked at least ten of my attacks, it’s sturdy.”
Certainly, Aila had shattered the bomb lodged in Jema’s heart with just a few strikes.
Given that it absorbed even more strikes than the bomb, its performance seemed assured.
“If it breaks, you can’t use it for over an hour. After that, you use the ring.”
As I was about to place the ring on my finger, I felt something strange.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and put it on.”
“Please explain precisely what this is. I need to know before I wear it.”
“You have an unusually keen instinct. Usually, even the demons don’t know what it is.”
Aila temporarily took the ring from my hand and placed it calmly on her palm.
“As you said, this isn’t an ordinary ring. There’s a weapon inside it.”
“It doesn’t seem like an ordinary weapon.”
“That’s right; this one is alive.”
“To have something so dangerous…”
“It’s not dangerous. It obeys the wearer.”
Aila carefully slipped the ring onto my finger.
“But it’s a bit noisy.”
As the ring slid onto my finger, light burst forth, manifesting a small dagger in my hand.
“You are a dagger.”
“Does everyone have different weapons?”
“Yeah.”
Swinging the dagger lightly, I sensed a remarkable difference from ordinary daggers.
No matter how much a dagger is made of iron, it usually has some weight to it.
The dagger in my hand felt completely weightless.
“This is incredibly light.”
“Is it? Brother. I’m a bit lighter, right? Since I’m still in the growth phase, I have less weight. Brother, what is your relationship with the sister?”
In my head, a voice spoke to me at incredible speed.
“Who are you…?”
“Oh, I am this sword. Sword. Isn’t it a nice day? Shall we stab someone?”
“I don’t really know the weather right now, but it’s night.”
“Night is nice. Let’s sneak up on someone in the darkness. What do you think?”
I glanced at Aila with a somewhat stiff expression.
“You’re quite chatty, aren’t you?”
“I don’t mind if you’re chatty, but this one seems desperate to kill someone, doesn’t it?”
“It’s a replica, so there’s some personality issues. But its performance is similar to the original.”
“How do you revert it to its original state?”
“Just command it.”
I commanded the chattering dagger to revert to its original form, and after babbling for a moment, it immediately transformed back into a ring.
“Will this really be of help?”
“Th-the performance is guaranteed.”
Was Aila stammering just now merely my imagination?
Though I now had a means to protect myself, I couldn’t rely on it completely.
Aila taught me several precautions regarding the necklace.
The most critical thing was that you couldn’t move while using the barrier.
“Well then, I think I should head back to my room now.”
“Want to go for a walk with me?”
“Excuse me?”
“Let’s go.”
Once again, Aila stubbornly pulled me along.
Just before exiting the JS building, I halted on the spot.
“Why do you keep dragging me around?”
“I’m just saying let’s go have fun.”
If she were a child of my age, I might have followed without deeper thought.
“What’s the reason you’re trying to separate me from this building, or specifically, from Jema?”
“Ugh. You really are quite the child.”
With a sigh, Aila took my hand and changed direction.
We took the elevator to the 12th floor.
“Don’t be surprised when you see it?”
“What did you do?!”
I hurriedly pushed open the door to our room.
Inside, Solche and Alium were seated, waiting.
On the bed, Jema lay sleeping peacefully.
“We succeeded with the removal!”
“We’ve encountered some issues.”
Aila pulled back the blanket covering Jema.
“W-what is this…?”
Jema’s chest was wide open, and her heart was protruding, beating slowly.
“The suppressed energy within has started to sprout.”
I couldn’t understand what they were talking about at all.
I alternated my gaze between Aila, Solche, and Alium.
I needed an explanation.
Observing the situation, Alium finally spoke up.
“The bomb had stunted the growth of the heart, which has suddenly started to grow rapidly. This may be why Jema’s heart is transforming into a different form.”
“She’s not going to die, right?”
“Die? Once that heart awakens, she won’t be able to die even if she wanted to.”
Currently, Jema’s condition was quite stable.
The masked figure had said it would be over in a day or two.
“Where can I meet that person?”
“Why?”
“We can’t just let them take all the money after causing a medical accident.”
This time, I grabbed Aila’s hand and led her out of the room.