The Excommunicated Saint Wants to Lose

“Are you ready?”
“Begin.”
I nodded to the vice tower master who was preparing magic.

“Then I’ll manifest it.”

A fluctuating flow of mana.
A thick pillar slowly rose from the magic circle engraved on the floor.

I wonder what kind of magic this is.
I slightly raised my hand and flinched.

I raised my right hand, but my left hand went up.
Is it reversing sensations?
It was quite a troublesome magic.

“Even for you, it won’t be easy to escape.”
“Indeed.”

Will and action don’t match.
Curious about this strange feeling I was experiencing for the first time, I kept moving my body.

Turning my neck, twisting my waist, bending my knees.
As I moved various parts, the unfamiliar sensation gradually became familiar.

“I’ve got the gist of it.”
“How is it?”
“About 30 points.”

At the cold evaluation, the vice tower master’s eyes sharpened.

“I’d like to hear the reason.”
“The manifestation is too slow. It won’t work in actual combat.”
“I was planning to supplement that. If you know where the problem is, it’s not a flaw.”

A feeble excuse.
The vice tower master was a typical magician and an old fogey.
It meant he would never admit his own mistakes.

“And it’s too easy to break.”
“Nonsense. Prove it.”

I had been moving mana in advance, expecting this.

“Watch carefully.”

I surrounded both hands with aura and struck the floor.
Then the pillar that looked solid easily crumbled.

“See?”
“……”
“It’s even flimsier than the ‘Unbalanced Space’ the hero used. At this rate, Breni will catch up to you in a few months.”

I spoke honestly to help with improvement.
In fact, I don’t usually hide my true feelings anyway.

“Is today’s experiment over?”
“…Yes. Go back now.”

One of the tasks assigned as Riella’s secretary.
Helping with magic experiments was successfully completed.

“Good work.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t act friendly.”

The vice tower master consistently kept his guard up against me.
Continuously for the week I’ve stayed at the Purple Magic Tower.

I didn’t particularly want to get close either.
Maybe if he was cute like Breni, it would be different.
I had no intention of getting close to an unnecessarily sensitive old man.

Moreover, he’s not even talented enough to defeat me.
Maintaining an appropriate distance was the way for both of us.

“I’m going. Call me if you have more magic to experiment with.”
“Get lost already.”

As I left the magic practice room, leaving behind the displeased vice tower master.
At that moment, words appeared in front of my eyes.

[Come to the basement. I have something to show you.]

A message from Riella.
I turned and took the stairs heading down.

I wonder why she’s calling me.
If my memory serves me right, the basement was where they kept captured experimental subjects belonging to the Demon Lord’s army.

-I feel uneasy about this.
“Why you?”
-Intense malice is rising from the bottom of this tower.

The Sun Catcher’s ability to detect energy.
This shouldn’t be overlooked.
Only vicious beings emit such malice.

“Tell me more details.”
-It’s mixed with thick hatred. The feeling of hating someone could reach the sky. No, if left alone, it might spread throughout the world!

The expression was exaggerated, but the danger must be real.
Because the Sun Catcher is a holy object that cannot lie.

“Is it demons? I guess they’d want to kill everyone after being tortured every day.”
-There is demon malice too.

I continued down the stairs while listening to the Sun Catcher’s words.

-But there’s another being that’s not a demon. The malice is so intense that I can’t identify its identity.

An unknown enemy emitting an overwhelming presence.
It was ear-pricking information.

“Could it be a strong opponent?”

I asked carefully, with inner anticipation.

-Probably. It’s an enemy that could be dangerous even for you, Clitia-nim, if you’re careless.

Expectation spread throughout my heart, turning into excitement.
Could it be a gift Riella prepared for me?
I hurried down towards the bottom.

After moving my legs for who knows how long.
Finally, the stairs ended and I reached the lowest floor.

“How did you come here?”

A small room made of smooth white marble.
A young magician guarding a door spoke to me.

“I’m Eria, the Tower Master’s secretary.”

I answered while unnecessarily pulling down the hood of the robe I was wearing.

“Please enter. The Tower Master is waiting.”

Granting entry without even checking.
Indeed, having a person in power as a friend was convenient in many ways.

“I’ll open it for you.”

I entered through the door that the well-mannered magician opened for me.

A corridor brightly lit by magical device lights.
Despite being bright and clean, the atmosphere was somehow stuffy.

Closed doors lined the walls at regular intervals.
Iron doors with magic circles drawn on them, seemingly to prevent escape.

And screams heard intermittently.
It was more like a curse than a scream.
It seemed to be coming from captured demons.
The pain was so intense that it made my ears ring.

“You’re here?”

Riella, standing in the middle of the corridor, waved at me.

“This is where dangerous experiments are conducted. How do you feel?”
“It feels unpleasant.”

It was the first time I felt sympathy for demons.

“Really? I feel refreshed when I’m here. Trash-like beings are suffering, after all.”

Here we go again.
She becomes insanely extreme whenever the topic of evil comes up.
She didn’t seem to realize what was wrong with it.
As expected, something bad must have happened in her past.

-That person has a peculiar tendency like you, Clitia-nim.
“Don’t compare us.”

I couldn’t say I was normal, but I wasn’t to that extent.

“Follow me.”

I walked side by side with Riella.
Feeling sorry for my friend’s deviation.

The corridor was unexpectedly long.
Throughout the walk, Riella’s humming mixed with the screams, creating a bizarre harmony.

“We’re here.”
We stopped walking.
At the end of the corridor.
There was a purple iron door, unlike the other iron doors.

“It’s here.”
“What exactly are you trying to show me?”
“See for yourself.”

With the sound of snapping fingers, the locked purple iron door opened with a creaking sound.

“What the…”

As soon as it opened, a foul stench fiercely assaulted my nose.

“Ah, sorry. The ventilation isn’t good. Let’s go in.”

It smells like a rotting corpse.
Moreover, it was pitch black inside, so I couldn’t see what was there.

I felt a bit uneasy.
But since I came this far, I couldn’t turn back, so I entered.

As soon as I stepped in, the surroundings brightened.

A wide but gloomy room.
It’s a place I’ve already visited once.
In an illusion, not reality.

“Remember the place where you were attacked by me? This is it.”

Magic circles were drawn all over every surface of the room.
Exactly as it remained in my memory.
Even the detailed patterns and letters were the same.

“It wasn’t an elaborate illusion, just a recreation.”
“All illusion-type magic is like that originally.”

Even the point that chains were protruding and binding someone was the same.

But the state of that ‘someone’ wasn’t good at all.
It was a corpse so rotten that it was hard to tell the original age or gender.

“I called you to show you that.”
“What’s its identity? It’s not an ordinary corpse, I assume.”

Riella looked into my eyes for a moment before giving the answer.

“A public enemy. Same as you.”

Though it was a short statement, there were two parts that were confusing.

“You’re saying I’m a public enemy?”
“…You didn’t know?”

Giff only said I was infamous, not that I was a public enemy.
Why didn’t he tell me?

It’s not a big problem, but it’s vexing.
I should question him when I meet him later.

“Then how many are there now?”
“Seven.”
In my memory, there were five, but somehow two more had been added.
“Anyway, it’s not just a corpse, it’s a public enemy.”
Then is it an undead?
My interest rose.
“Is it that dangerous?”
“Go and check for yourself.”

I approached and examined it closely.
A nauseating appearance.
The body was excessively decayed.
Undead are created by black magic.
But usually, they’re embalmed to prevent severe decay.
It would be troublesome if they couldn’t move due to being too damaged.
In other words, it’s not an undead.
Then there was only one possibility.

“It seems to be a corpse locust.”
“That’s right.”

Corpse locust.
An insect that parasitizes dead organisms’ bodies, using them as armor and home.

It was a monster that appeared in as well.
Due to its unattractive name, it was mainly called just ‘zombie bug’.

Of course, it was different from real zombies in many aspects.

Corpse locusts live in swarms.
Centered around the strongest individual, the entire group shares consciousness and conducts meticulous and persistent hunting.

The situation was serious.
It was impossible that only one had become a public enemy.

“Don’t tell me the entire swarm is a public enemy?”
“Our Clitia is smart.”
“Stop joking. How many are there?”

Riella thought for a moment before speaking.

“Immeasurable. Just think of it as disgustingly swarming.”
“Where are they now?”
“All over the western continent. If the Great Mountain Range hadn’t blocked them, there would have been many more.”
“……”

In the game, it was just a two-digit number occupying a small village at most.
The scale had become too large.

“Clitia, I have a favor to ask.”
“You want me to catch all of these?”
“Subjugation of the public enemy ‘Nightmare of the West’. How about it, good?”
I let out a hollow laugh.
She was saying something ridiculous.

“Of course it’s good. Why are you even asking?”
I was moved.
This was a blessing.
It’s common sense that larger numbers mean stronger.
It would be the strongest enemy I’ve encountered so far.

Moreover, it wasn’t a hopeless subjugation as eliminating the leader would cause the rest to self-destruct.
A battle with even a slight chance of winning was better than one that was certain to lose.
Wouldn’t that increase the value of defeat?

“So you’ll take it on?”
“But I have more important business to attend to.”

However, I couldn’t stop the hero party’s mental education midway.

“I need to finish before they all gather in one place. If we miss the timing, it’ll be hard to reverse.”
“The newly chosen great warrior is in the west. Couldn’t you handle both at the same time?”

There was no reason to refuse anymore.

“I’ll do it.”
I agreed immediately.
Along with praise that you’re the best friend.
“You thought well. Go as my secretary in the form of a dispatch. It’s a western reconnaissance mission.”
“I accept the order, Tower Master.”

It was a good setting.
Now I should be able to keep receiving Riella’s help.

“We don’t use that kind of speech in our tower. So when are you going?”
“First thing tomorrow.”
“I’ll prepare the supplies for you.”

We came out of the basement, planning specific subjugation measures.

-Clitia-nim.

As we were climbing the stairs, the Sun Catcher whispered softly.

-About the owner of the malice I mentioned earlier.
“Ah, that. Was it the one bound earlier?”
-No. It’s an individual connected to that one. Probably the leader, I think.

Malice transmitted across consciousness to consciousness.
It was entirely possible for the leader of countless swarms dominating the entire west.

-But…
“What now?”
-I read the will transmitted through the malice. I’ll convey it exactly, so please don’t get angry?

The Sun Catcher repeatedly begged for forgiveness before speaking.

-Clitia, where are you?
“…What?”
-I love you. I’ll make the sun fall for you.
Cold water was poured on my excited heart.